Thickness scaling and reliability comparison for the inter-poly high-kappa dielectrics

Abstract

In this letter, the inter-poly dielectric (IPD) thickness, scaling, and reliability characteristics of Al2O3 and HfO2 IPDs are studied, which are then compared with conventional oxide/nitride/oxide (ONO) IPD. Regardless of deposition tools, drastic leakage current reduction and reliability improvement have been demonstrated by replacing ONO IPD with high-permittivity (high-kappa) IPDs, which is suitable for mass production applications in the future. Moreover, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) can be used to further promote dielectric reliability when compared to reactive-sputtering deposition. By using the MOCVD, the charge-to-breakdown (Q(BD)) can be significantly improved, in addition to enhanced breakdown voltage and effective breakdown field-Our results clearly demonstrate that high-kappa IPD, particularly deposited by MOCVD, possesses great potential for next-generation stacked-gate Flash memories.