AVS 56th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Electronic Materials and Processing Tuesday Sessions
       Session EM-TuP

Paper EM-TuP20
Annealing of ZrO2 Thin Films Studied by Vacuum UV Spectroscopic Ellipsometry

Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 6:00 pm, Room Hall 3

Session: Electronic Materials and Processing Poster Session
Presenter: H. Cheon, Hanyang University, S. Korea
Authors: I. An, Hanyang University, S. Korea
S. Lee, Hanyang University, S. Korea
H. Cheon, Hanyang University, S. Korea
J. Kyoung, Hanyang University, S. Korea
H. Oh, Hanyang University, S. Korea
Correspondent: Click to Email
ZrO2 is one of the high-k dielectrics which can be used for the storage capacitor in dynamic random access memory devices. However, the physical properties of ZrO2 films are highly dependent on the preparation process and conditions. Particularly, the thickness and temperature effects are most important. In this work, we investigated the annealing effect of ZrO2 films which were prepared at various thickness ranges using atomic layer deposition. Vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopic ellipsometry (VUV SE) was employed to study the optical and microstructural properties of zirconium oxide (ZrO2) films. Also XRD and capacitance measurements were performed. ZrO2 films thinner than ~4 nm remained amorphous even at elevated annealing. Meanwhile thicker films developed into crystalline phases and the degree of crystallinity depended on the thickness.