Improvement of interfacial electrical properties of Au/ZrO2/Al2O3/TiN capacitors by reduction effect of Ar plasma treatment

초록

As dynamic random-access memory continues to scale down, the formation of interfacial layers between the dielectric layer and the electrode of the capacitor device becomes crucial. These unnecessary interfacial layers degrade electrical properties and significantly affect memory device reliability. Here, Ar plasma treatment was conducted on Au/ZrO2/Al2O3/TiN capacitors to reduce the interfacial layer at the bottom electrode. Whether the plasma treatment was conducted after Al2O3 deposition or ZrO2 deposition, the TiOxNy layer at the bottom interface always remarkably decreased by the different ion bombardment effects along the target ions. Due to the decrease in the interfacial low-k layer, the equivalent oxide thickness of the interface was reduced from 4.00 nm to 2.91 nm compared to the untreated sample while maintaining the low leakage current level. Additionally, a wide window of plasma treatment was confirmed by controlling the power from 100 to 200 W and the time from 4 to 10 min. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.

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