Effect of postdeposition annealing on the interfacial and electrical properties of high- k Nd Ox Ny gate dielectrics

The authors proposed a high- k Nd Ox Ny gate dielectric grown on silicon substrate by reactive rf sputtering. It is found that the Nd Ox Ny gate dielectric after annealing at 700 °C exhibits excellent electrical properties such as high capacitance value, small interface state, low leakage current, and almost no hysteresis in the capacitance-voltage curves. This indicates that annealing at 700 °C treatment can suppress the interfacial layer and silicate formation, reduce interface traps, and anneal out defects.