Improvement of the high-κ/Ge interface thermal stability using an in-situ ozone treatment characterized by conductive atomic force microscopy

In this work, an in-situ ozone treatment is carried out to improve the interface thermal stability of HfO₂/Al₂O₃ gate stack on germanium (Ge) substrate. The micrometer scale level of HfO₂/Al₂O₃ gate stack on Ge is studied using conductive atomic force microscopy (AFM) with a conductive tip. The initial results indicate that comparing with a non in-situ ozone treated sample, the interface thermal stability of the sample with an in-situ ozone treatment can be substantially improved after annealing. As a result, void-free surface, low conductive spots, low leakage current density, and relative high breakdown voltage high-κ/Ge are obtained. A detailed analysis is performed to confirm the origins of the changes. All results indicate that in-situ ozone treatment is a promising method to improve the interface properties of Ge-based three-dimensional (3D) devices in future technology nodes.