HfO2 gate dielectric with 0.5 nm equivalent oxide thickness

Hafnium dioxide films have been deposited using reactive electron beam evaporation in oxygen on hydrogenated Si(100) surfaces. The capacitance–voltage curves of as-deposited metal(Ti)–insulator–semiconductor structures exhibited large hysteresis and frequency dispersion. With post-deposition annealing in hydrogen at 300 °C, the frequency dispersion decreased to less than 1%/decade, while the hysteresis was reduced to 20 mV at flatband. An equivalent oxide thickness of 0.5 nm was achieved for HfO2 thickness of 3.0 nm. We attribute this result to a combination of pristine hydrogen saturated silicon surfaces, room temperature dielectric deposition, and low temperature hydrogen annealing