Remote phonon and surface roughness limited universal electron mobility of In0.53Ga0.47As surface channel MOSFETs

The inversion layer electron mobility in n-channel In0.53Ga0.47As MOSFET’s with HfO2 gate dielectric with several substrate impurity concentrations (∼1 × 1016 cm−3 to ∼1 × 1018 cm−3) and various surface preparations (HF surface clean, (NH4)2S surface clean and PECVD a-Si interlayer with a HfO2 gate dielectric) have been studied. The peak electron mobility is observed to be strongly dependent on the surface preparation, but the high field mobility is observed to be almost independent of the surface preparation. A detailed analysis of the effective mobility as a function of electric field, substrate doping, and temperature was used to determine the various mobility components (surface roughness, phonon, and coulombic scattering limited mobility components). For the substrates with high doping concentration, the electron mobility at low vertical electric field is dominated by Coulomb scattering from the substrate dopants, whereas, for lower substrate doping the Coulombic scattering is dominated by the disorder induced gap states. Low temperature measurements were used to determine the surface roughness scattering and phonon components. The results show that room temperature mobility of In0.53Ga0.47As surface channel MOSFETs with HfO2 gate dielectric at high electric field is limited primarily by remote phonons whereas the Al2O3 gate dielectric is limited by surface roughness scattering.

A comparison of μeff with Al2O3 gate dielectric compared to that of HfO2 dielectrics and μSR. The results show that high field μeff of InxGa1−xAs surface channel MOSFETs with HfO2 gate dielectric is limited by remote phonons whereas that of Al2O3 is limited by surface roughness.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights
► Inversion layer electron mobility of In0.53Ga0.47As surface channel MOSFETs is modeled.
► Peak electron mobility is strongly affected by the surface preparation.
► High field mobility for the HfO2 gate dielectric is limited primarily by remote phonon scattering.
► High field mobility for the Al2O3 gate dielectric is limited primarily by surface roughness scattering.