Characteristics and processing effects of ZrO2 thin films grown by metal-organic molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract ZrO 2 dielectric layers were grown on the p-type Si(1 0 0) substrate by metal-organic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE). Zrconium t-butoxide, Zr(O t-C 4 H 9 ) 4 was used as a Zr precursor and argon gas was used as a carrier gas. The thickness of the ZrO 2 film and intermediate SiO 2 layer were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The properties of the ZrO 2 layers were evaluated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high frequency (HF) capacitance–voltage ( C – V ) measurement, and current–voltage ( I – V ) measurement. C – V and I – V measurements have shown that ZrO 2 layer grown by MOMBE has a high dielectric constant ( k ) of 18–19 and a low-level of leakage current density. The growth rate is affected by various process variables such as substrate temperature, bubbler temperature, Ar, and O 2 gas flows. Since the ratio of O 2 and Ar gas flows are closely correlated, the effect of variations in O 2 /Ar flow ratio on growth rate is also investigated using statistical modeling methodology.

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