Integration of HfxTayN metal gate with SiO2 and HfOxNy gate dielectrics for MOS device applications

Interaction of HfxTayN metal gate with SiO2 and HfOxNy gate dielectrics has been extensively studied. Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) device formed with SiO2 gate dielectric and HfxTayN metal gate shows satisfactory thermal stability. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS) analysis results show that the diffusion depths of Hf and Ta are less significant in SiO2 gate dielectric than that in HfOxNy. Compared to HfOxNy gate dielectric, SiO2 shows better electrical properties, such as leakage current, hysteresis, interface trap density and stress-induced flat-band voltage shift. With an increase in post metallization annealing (PMA) temperature, the electrical characteristics of the MOS device with SiO2 gate dielectric remain almost unchanged, indicating its superior thermal and electrical stability.