Island growth in the atomic layer deposition of zirconium oxide and aluminum oxide on hydrogen-terminated silicon: Growth mode modeling and transmission electron microscopy

被引:133
作者
Puurunen, RL
Vandervorst, W
Besling, WFA
Richard, O
Bender, H
Conard, T
Zhao, C
Delabie, A
Caymax, M
De Gendt, S
Heyns, M
Viitanen, MM
de Ridder, M
Brongersma, HH
Tamminga, Y
Dao, T
de Win, T
Verheijen, M
Kaiser, M
Tuominen, M
机构
[1] IMEC VZW, B-3001 Louvain, Belgium
[2] Katholieke Univ Leuven, INSYS, B-3001 Louvain, Belgium
[3] Philips Semicond R&D, F-38920 Crolles, France
[4] Calipso BV, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands
[5] Philips Res Labs, NL-5656 AA Eindhoven, Netherlands
[6] ASM Belgium, B-3001 Louvain, Belgium
基金
芬兰科学院;
关键词
D O I
10.1063/1.1787624
中图分类号
O59 [应用物理学];
学科分类号
摘要
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is used in applications where inorganic material layers with uniform thickness down to the nanometer range are required. For such thicknesses, the growth mode, defining how the material is arranged on the surface during the growth, is of critical importance. In this work, the growth mode of the zirconium tetrachloride/water and the trimethyl aluminum/water ALD process on hydrogen-terminated silicon was investigated by combining information on the total amount of material deposited with information on the surface fraction of the material. The total amount of material deposited was measured by Rutherford backscattering, x-ray fluorescence, and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy, and the surface fractions by low-energy ion scattering. Growth mode modeling was made assuming two-dimensional growth or random deposition (RD), with a "shower model" of RD recently developed for ALD. Experimental surface fractions of the ALD-grown zirconium oxide and aluminum oxide films were lower than the surface fractions calculated assuming RD, suggesting the occurrence of island growth. Island growth was confirmed with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements, from which the island size and number of islands per unit surface area could also be estimated. The conclusion of island growth for the aluminum oxide deposition on hydrogen-terminated silicon contradicts earlier observations. In this work, physical aluminum oxide islands were observed in TEM after 15 ALD reaction cycles. Earlier, thicker aluminum oxide layers have been analyzed, where islands have not been observed because they have already coalesced to form a continuous film. The unreactivity of hydrogen-terminated silicon surface towards the ALD reactants, except for reactive defect areas, is proposed as the origin of island growth. Consequently, island growth can be regarded as "undesired surface-selective ALD." (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.
引用
收藏
页码:4878 / 4889
页数:12
相关论文
共 121 条
[1]   Influence of substrate temperature on atomic layer growth and properties of HfO2 thin films [J].
Aarik, J ;
Aidla, A ;
Kiisler, AA ;
Uustare, T ;
Sammelselg, V .
THIN SOLID FILMS, 1999, 340 (1-2) :110-116
[2]   STUDY OF ZNTE FILMS GROWN ON GLASS SUBSTRATES USING AN ATOMIC LAYER EVAPORATION METHOD [J].
AHONEN, M ;
PESSA, M ;
SUNTOLA, T .
THIN SOLID FILMS, 1980, 65 (03) :301-307
[3]  
ALESKOVSKII VB, 1990, ACTA POLYTECH SC CH, P155
[4]  
ALESKOVSKII VB, 1974, ZH PRIKL KHIM, V47, P2145
[5]  
BENDER H, 2001, INT WORKSH GAT INS T, P86
[6]   Characterisation of ALCVD Al2O3-ZrO2 nanolaminates, link between electrical and structural properties [J].
Besling, WFA ;
Young, E ;
Conard, T ;
Zhao, C ;
Carter, R ;
Vandervorst, W ;
Caymax, M ;
De Gendt, S ;
Heyns, M ;
Maes, J ;
Tuominen, M ;
Haukka, S .
JOURNAL OF NON-CRYSTALLINE SOLIDS, 2002, 303 (01) :123-133
[7]   Modelling of ZrO2 deposition from ZrCl4 and H2O the Si(100) surface:: initial reactions and surface structures [J].
Brodskii, VV ;
Rykova, EA ;
Bagatur'yants, AA ;
Korkin, AA .
COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE, 2002, 24 (1-2) :278-283
[8]  
BRONGERSMA HH, 1994, MATER SCI MONOG, V81, P113
[9]   Insight in the outside: materials science at the atomic level using LEIS [J].
Brongersma, HH ;
de Ridder, M ;
Gildenpfennig, A ;
Viitanen, MM .
JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, 2003, 23 (15) :2761-2767
[10]   Oxygen exchange and transport in thin zirconia films on Si(100) [J].
Busch, BW ;
Schulte, WH ;
Garfunkel, E ;
Gustafsson, T ;
Qi, W ;
Nieh, R ;
Lee, J .
PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 2000, 62 (20) :R13290-R13293