Stable gallium arsenide MIS capacitors and MIS field effecttransistors by (NH4)2Sx treatment andhydrogenation using plasma deposited silicon nitride gate insulator

The beneficial effects of sulfur passivation of gallium arsenide (GaAs) surface by (NH₄)₂S_x chemical treatment and by hydrogenation of the insulator-GaAs interface using the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor-deposited (PECVD) silicon nitride gate dielectric film as the source of hydrogen are illustrated by fabricating Al/PECVD silicon nitride/n-GaAs MIS capacitors and metal insulator semiconductor field effect transistors (MISFET). Post metallization annealing (PMA) at temperatures in the range 450-550°C is shown to be the key process for achieving midgap interface state density below 10 ¹¹/cm²/eV and maximum incremental transconductance, which is about 75% of the theoretical maximum limit. MIS capacitors are fabricated on (NH₄)₂S_x treated GaAs substrate using gate dielectrics such as PECVD SiO ₂ and silicon oxynitride to demonstrate that the PMA is less effective with these dielectrics because of their lower hydrogen content. The small signal AC transconductance, g_ms measurements on MISFETs fabricated using silicon nitride, have shown that the low-frequency degradation of g_ms is almost absent in the devices fabricated on (NH₄)₂S_x-treated GaAs substrates and subjected to PMA. The drain current stability in these devices is demonstrated to be excellent, with an initial drift of only 2% of the starting value. The dual role of silicon nitride layer, namely, protection against loss of sulfur and an excellent source of hydrogen for additional surface passivation along with sulfur is demonstrated by comparing the transconductance of MISFETs fabricated on GaAs substrates annealed without the nitride cap after the (NH₄)₂S _x treatment     

Electrical Characteristics of Passivated Pseudomorphic HEMTs With $hbox{P}_{hbox{2}}hbox{S}_{hbox{5}}/(hbox{NH}_{hbox{4}})_{hbox{2}}hbox{S}_{hbox{X}}$ Pretreatment

This paper elucidates the dc, pulse I-V, microwave, flicker noise, and power properties of AlGaAs/InGaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors (pHEMTs) after various ex situ sulfur pretreatments. The pHEMTs were pretreated with NH₄OH, (NH₄)₂S_X, and P₂S₅/(NH₄)₂S_X solutions before SiO₂ passivation to reduce the GaAs native oxide-related surface states. Stable phosphorus oxides and sulfur bound to the Ga and As species can be efficiently obtained using P₂S₅/(NH₄)₂S_X pretreatment; therefore, the leakage current in pHEMT was reduced following this process. Atomic force microscopy measurements indicated that the phosphorus oxides formed by P₂S₅/(NH₄)₂S_X treatment also provided a better surface roughness than obtained following traditional (NH₄)2S_X-only pretreatment, reducing mobility degradation after sulfur pretreatment. Based on the dc and 1 mus pulse I-V measurement results, P₂S₅/(NH₄)₂S_X-treated pHEMT exhibited very similar I_ds trends, especially at high currents; however, NH₄OH, (NH₄)₂S_X treatments clearly reduced the current upon pulse measurement because of the presence of surface traps. Hence, this novel pretreatment method has great potential for highly linear microwave power transistor applications.     

Significant long-term reduction in n-channel MESFET subthresholdleakage using ammonium-sulfide surface treated gates

Ammonium-sulfide ((NH₄)₂S) treated gates have been employed in the fabrication of GaAs MESFETs that exhibit a remarkable reduction in subthreshold leakage current. A greater than 100-fold reduction in drain current minimum is observed due to a decrease in Schottky gate leakage. The electrical characteristics have remained stable for over a year during undesiccated storage at room temperature, despite the absence of passivation layers     

GaAs metal insulator field effect transistors with excellentintrinsic transconductance and stable drain currents using (NH4)2Sx chemical treatment

Metal insulator semiconductor field effect transistors (MISFETs) and MIS capacitors are fabricated using Al metal-gate and PECVD silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) gate-insulator on commercial GaAs epitaxial wafers after treating the channel regions with (NH₄)₂S_x. It is shown that the post metallization annealing (PMA) of these devices improves the transconductance and reduces the interface state density (D_it) considerably. This is attributed to the additional passivation effect of hydrogen diffusing to the interface from the Si ₃N₄ during the PMA. An intrinsic transconductance of 30.7 mS/mm which is 75% of the theoretical maximum limit of 40.5 mS/mm has been achieved using silicon nitride gate insulator thickness of 1100 Å. Stability of the drain currents in these devices is demonstrated to be excellent     

DC characteristics of AZO/GaN heterojunction bipolar transistors

A new npn Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO)/GaN heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is presented. The fabricated HBT with an emitter size of 120 x 120 μm² exhibits a current gain of 5.8 at V_BE = 3.0 V. The anomalous high current gain is observed at low current level due to the leakage current. The common-emitter output characteristics demonstrate DC current gain of 1.2. In addition, improved device characteristics are observed after the P₂S₅/(NH₄)₂S treatment.     

Further Suppression of Surface-Recombination of an InGaP/GaAs HBT by Conformal Passivation

Conformal passivation on an InGaP/GaAs HBT with significant reduction in the base surface-recombination effect is demonstrated. Not only dc behaviors but also RF performances are remarkably improved compared with the conventional emitter-ledge structure. Based on the conformal passivation, i.e., the base surface is covered by the depleted InGaP ledge structure and sulfur ((NH₄)₂S_x ) treatment, lower base surface-recombination current density, lower specific contact resistance, lower sheet resistance, higher current gain, higher collector current, and higher maximum oscillation frequency are obtained     

Simplified Surface Preparation for GaAs Passivation Using Atomic Layer-Deposited High- κ Dielectrics

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) provides a unique opportunity to integrate high-quality gate dielectrics on III-V compound semiconductors. The physics and chemistry of a III-V compound semiconductor surface or interface are problems so complex that even after three decades research understanding is still limited. We report a simplified surface preparation process using ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH) to remove the native oxide and make the hydroxylated GaAs surface ready for ALD Al₂O₃ surface chemistry. The effectiveness of GaAs passivation with ALD is demonstrated with small hysteresis, 1%-2% frequency dispersion per decade at accumulation capacitance, and a mid-bandgap D _it of 8 times10¹¹ to 1times 10¹² cm^-2 ldr eV^-1determined by the Terman method. The results from ammonium sulfide [(NH₄)₂S-,and hydrofluoric acid (HF)-, and hydrochloric acid (HCl)-treated surfaces and a surface with native oxide are also presented to compare with the results from the ammonium-hydroxide-treated surface. Fermi-level unpinning is also easily demonstrated on the ALD HfO₂ and p-type GaAs interface.     

Effect of ECR plasma on the luminescence efficiency of InGaAs and InP

InGaAs and InP exposed to N₂ or Ar ECR plasmas show reduced photoluminescence intensity. The extent of the degradation depends on both the microwave power level and any additional r.f. power applied to increase the energy of ions in the discharge. Annealing at 200°C restores approx. one-third of the initial luminescence efficiency in both materials, but HF removal of the native oxide increases the PL intensity to 80% in InGaAs and 40% in InP. The mechanism for the degraded optical output from these materials is creation of both interface and bulk states. The latter are present to depths of ≥200 Å and are more prevalent in InP. Passivation of the surfaces using (NH₄)₂S treatment completely restores the PL intensity in InGaAs, but not in InP. ECR deposition of SiN_x shows excellent conformity around the gate contact of submicron high electron mobility transistors, and an absence of the rabbit-ears typically present with conventional PECVD.     

The effects of NH3 plasma passivation on polysiliconthin-film transistors

The NH₃ plasma passivation has been performed for the first time on the polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin-film transistors (TFT's). It is found that the TFT's after the NH₃ plasma passivation achieve better device performances, including the off-current below 0.1 pA/μm and the on/off current ratio higher than 10⁸, and also better hot-carrier reliability as well as thermal stability than the H₂-plasma devices. These improvements were attributed to not only the hydrogen passivation of the grain-boundary dangling bonds, but also the nitrogen pile-up at SiO₂/poly-Si interface and the strong Si-N bond formation to terminate the dangling bonds at the grain boundaries of the polysilicon films     

Characteristics of Self-Aligned Gate-First Ge p- and n-Channel MOSFETs Using CVD HfO2 Gate Dielectric and Si Surface Passivation

The electrical properties of p- and n-MOS devices fabricated on germanium with metal-organic chemical-vapor-deposition HfO₂ as gate dielectric and silicon passivation (SP) as surface treatment are extensively investigated. Surface treatment prior to high-K deposition is critical to achieve small gate leakage currents as well as small equivalent oxide thicknesses. The SP provides improved interface quality compared to the treatment of surface nitridation, particularly for the gate stacks on p-type substrate. Both Ge p- and n-MOSFETs with HfO₂ gate dielectrics are demonstrated with SP. The measured hole mobility is 82% higher than that of the universal SiO₂/Si system at high electric field (~0.6 MV/cm), and about 61% improvement in peak electron mobility of Ge n-channel MOSFET over the CVD HfO₂ /Si system was achieved. Finally, bias temperature-instability (BTI) degradation of Ge MOSFETs is characterized in comparison with the silicon control devices. Less negative BTI degradation is observed in the Ge SP p-MOSFET than the silicon control devices due to the larger valence-band offset, while larger positive BTI degradation in the Ge SP n-MOSFET than the silicon control is characterized probably due to the low-processing temperature during the device fabrication     

Effects of NH3 plasma passivation on N-channelpolycrystalline silicon thin-film transistors

The NH₃-plasma passivation has been performed on polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin-film transistors (TFT's), It is found that the TFT's after the NH₃-plasma passivation achieve better device performance, including the off-current below 0.1 pA/μm and the on/off current ratio higher than 10⁸, and also better hot-carrier reliability than the H₂-plasma devices. Based on optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) analysis, these improvements were attributed to not only the hydrogen passivation of the defect states, but also the nitrogen pile-up at SiO₂/poly-Si interface and the strong Si-N bond formation to terminate the dangling bonds at the grain boundaries of the polysilicon films. Furthermore, the gate-oxide leakage current significantly decreases and the oxide breakdown voltage slightly increases after applying NH₃-plasma treatment. This novel process is of potential use for the fabrication of TFT/LCD's and TFT/SRAM's     

Particle deposition and removal in wet cleaning processes for ULSImanufacturing

Particle deposition on wafer surfaces in solutions can be described by the well-documented principles of colloid science. Particle concentration, solution pH, and ionic strength in solutions are all important factors which determine the number of particles which deposit on wafer surfaces immersed in liquids. maximum particle deposition is observed in high ionic strength acidic solutions and is reduced as solution pH increase. Particle removal efficiencies in various solutions were also investigated; NH₄OH-H₂O₂-H ₂O solutions were optimized in NH₄OH content around the ratio of 0.05:1.15 (0.05 part NH₄OH, 1 part H₂O₂, 5 parts H₂O). Wafer damage as measured by surface micro-roughness was not increased during NH₄ OH-H₂O₂-H₂O treatment using this ratio     

Suppression of gate leakage current in n-AlGaAs/GaAs power HEMTs

Experiments of gate leakage current in a double-channel n-AlGaAs/GaAs FET with SiN_x film passivation indicated that the gate leakage current and its stability depend critically on the stoichiometry of the surface. The content of NH₄ OH in the etching solution prior to the SiN_x film deposition and the NH ₃/SiH₄ gas content ratio, particularly at the initial stage of plasma-CVD SiN, deposition, should be selected to minimize the surface state density of possible antisite defects. Extremely low gate leakage currents of 50 nA/mm have been obtained with an improved process, which is useful to realize low-distortion FETs     

Strain-controlled Si-Ge modulation-doped FET with ultrahigh holemobility

A novel modulation-doped field effect transistor (MODFET) with a strain-controlled Ge channel, p-Si_0.5Ge_0.5/Ge/Si _1-xGe_x, is fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). In order to enlarge the valence-band discontinuity, strain at the p-Si_0.5Ge_0.5/Ge interface is controlled by changing the composition of the relaxed Si_1-xGe_x layer. For this MODFET operated at around 77 K, an ultrahigh-field-effect mobility of ~9000 cm²/V-s is obtained     

Enhanced H2-plasma effects on polysilicon thin-filmtransistors with thin ONO gate-dielectrics

This letter reports that passivation effects of the H₂-plasma on the polysilicon thin-film transistors (TFT's) were greatly enhanced if the TFT's have a thin Si₃N₄ film on their gate-dielectrics. Compared to the conventional devices with only the SiO₂ gate dielectric, the TFT's with Si ₃N₄ have much more improvement on their subthreshold swing and field-effect mobility after H₂-plasma treatment     

An AlGaAs laser with high-quality dry etched mirrors fabricatedusing an ultrahigh vacuum in situ dry etching and deposition processingsystem

Highly reliable AlGaAs lasers with dry etched mirrors have been successfully fabricated with an ultrahigh-vacuum in situ processing system, equipped with reactive ion-beam etching (RIBE) and dielectric film deposition chambers. Etched mirror surfaces are protected against air-exposure contamination and nonvolatile-reaction-products adsorption with in situ Al₂O₃ passivation subsequent to the CI₂ RIBE mirror formation. Ion-bombardment-induced damage is repaired by thermal annealing. The annealing effect is enhanced by a contamination-free interface between the etched mirror surface and Al ₂O₃ passivation film. The lasers exhibit an increase in catastrophic optical damage (COD) level and long-life operation. Their COD levels are twice as high as that for as-etched lasers and are almost the same as those for conventional cleaved lasers     

TFT-LCD器件Al电极TFT特性研究

本文对Mo/Al/Mo作为TFT-LCD器件源/漏极的TFT特性进行了研究。与单层Mo相比,存在沟道界面粗糙,I_(off)偏大问题,通过优化膜层结构,改善界面状态,得到了平整的沟道界面和良好的TFT特性。增加Bottom Mo的厚度,可以有效减少Al的渗透,防止Al-Si化合物的形成,得到界面平整的沟道;N~+刻蚀后SF6处理对特性影响不大,增加刻蚀时间可以使I_(on)和I_(off)同时降低;PVX沉积前处理气体N_2+NH_3与H_2区别不大,都可以减少沟道缺陷,而增加H_2处理时间会增强等离子的轰击作用,减少了沟道表面Al-Si化合物,但处理时间过长可能会使沟道缺陷增加;采用bottom Mo加厚,N~+刻蚀以及PVX沉积前处理等最优条件,可以得到沟道界面良好,TFT特性与单层Mo相当的TFT器件。     

Preparation of Fine Copper Powder With Chemical Reduction Method and Its Application in MLCC

In this paper, the preparation of fine copper powder with chemical reduction method was investigated. Polyhedron nonagglomerated monodispersed copper powders by the reaction of CuSO₄ldr5H₂O and ascorbic acid were synthesized at pH 6~7 and reaction temperature of 60degC~70degC. It was also found by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis that a mixture of copper and cuprous oxide could be obtained when [Cu(NH₃)₄]²⁺ was reduced by ascorbic acid. Reaction temperature and pH have great effects on efficiency and particle size of copper powders. Copper powders were applied as terminal electrode materials of base metal electrode-multilayer ceramic capacitor (BME-MLCC), and the microstructures, including cross section and interface, of copper thick film were discussed with scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that copper thick film has a loose, porous cross section and a rough interface. The adhesion strength of copper electrode is high due to rough microstructure caused by interfacial reaction.     

Low thermal-budget ultrathin NH3-annealedatomic-layer-deposited Si-nitride/SiO2 stack gate dielectricswith excellent reliability

We present novel ultrathin (EOT = 2.1 nm) atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) Si-nitride/SiO₂ stack gate dielectrics annealed in NH ₃ at a moderate temperature of 550°C. MOS capacitors are fabricated using the proposed dielectrics. Excellent performance in electrical stressing experiments is shown by the dielectrics. They also exhibit better interface quality, low bulk-trap density, low trap generation rate, and high long-term reliability in comparison with ALD Si-nitride/SiO₂ stack dielectrics without NH₃-annealing and conventional thermal SiO₂ dielectrics. The proposed stack-gate dielectrics appear to be very promising for ULSI devices     

Formation of high quality storage capacitor dielectrics by in-siturapid thermal reoxidation of Si3N4 films inN2O ambient

This letter reports on a novel reoxidation technique for SiO₂ /Si₃N₄ (ON) stacked films by using N₂ O as oxidant. Effect of in-situ rapid thermal N₂O reoxidation (RTNO) on the electrical characteristics of thin ON stacked films are studied and compared with those of in-situ rapid thermal. O ₂ reoxidation (RTO). Prior to reoxidation, the Si₃N₄ film was deposited by rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (RT-CVD) using SiH₄ and NH₃. Results show that RTNO of the Si₃N₄ films significantly improves electrical characteristics of ON stacked films in terms of lower leakage current, suppressed charge trapping, reduced defect density and improved time-dependent-dielectric-breakdown (TDDB), as compared to RTO of the Si₃N₄ films