In this thesis, we investigate the electrical properties and reliability of novel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) for 65 nm technology node and below. Roughly, we divide the thesis into two parts, strained-silicon channel engineering and high-k/metal gate stacks respectively. Firstly, to study the influence of stress on carrier transport properties, we proposed an approach to get uniaxial compressive/tensile stress from the channel by bending silicon substrate to enhance device performance. By applying uniaxial longitudinal tensile/compressive stress, the drain current and mobility were found to increase obviously in n/p-type MOSFETs, respectively. The enhancement can be attributed to the reduction of effective transport mass and to the suppression of inter-valley scattering. However, we found that the external mechanical stress aggravated hot carrier effects in n-type MOSFETs. Therefore, in n-type MOSFETs, the behaviors of the substrate current and the impact ionization rate under mechanical stress are investigated. It was found that the substrate current and gate voltage corresponding to the maximum impact ionization current has significantly increased by increasing external mechanical stress. According to the relationship to the strain-induced mobility enhancement, the increase in impact ionization efficiency resulted from the decrease in threshold energy for impact ionization which was due to the narrowing of the band gap. In p-type MOSFETs, the reliability issue, named negative bias temperature instability, is the dominant degradation mechanism during ON-state operation. Therefore, we investigate the NBTI characteristics of strained p-type MOSFETs with external uniaxial tensile/compressive stress. The results indicate that uniaxial compressive stress not only enhances drive current but also reduces NBTI degradation. On the contrary, uniaxial tensile stress leads to a significant degradation in both of drive current and NBTI behavior. The observed Cgc-Vg curve shows the inversion capacitance is strongly dependent on mechanical strain, meaning that the probability of electrochemical reaction decreases/or increases due to the changes in inversion carrier density according to the Nit generation rate of the reaction-diffusion model. Moreover, the charge pumping result is also consistent with the threshold voltage shift of the strained device, which means the degradation is mainly due to trap generation at the Si/SiO2 interface. In addition, to investigate the influences of biaxial compressive stress on p-MOSFETs, we attempts to combine intrinsic and external mechanical stress. It was found that drain current and hole mobility of p-type MOSFET with Si1-xGex raised Source/Drain and external applied mechanical stress significantly decreased due to the increase of effective conductive mass at room temperature. However, this phenomenon was inverted above 363K. Because hole can gain enough thermal energy to transit to higher energy level by inter-valley scattering, its transport mechanism was dominated by lower effective mass at higher energy level. Besides, the model is also evidenced that the mobility degradation under biaxial compressive stress becomes aggravated while temperature decreases from 300 K to 100 K, which is mainly due to the increase of the ratio of carriers occupied in lowest band. On the other hand, the SiO2 dielectric and poly-gate are unsuitable for CMOS application below 65 nm technology node due to unacceptable gate leakage current. Therefore, in the second section of this thesis, we established the electrical characteristics and physical mechanisms of MOSFETs with HfO2 dielectric/TiN gate by analyzing experimental data from charge pumping, split C-V, DC Id-Vg, and pulse Id-Vg. It is found that the threshold voltage (Vth) has a significant decrease as titanium increases in metal gate for n-MOSFETs, whereas the Vth increases in p-MOSFETs. By examining flat band voltage, we found the Vth shift was resulted from metal gate work function (£pm) which became smaller as titanium increased in metal gate. In addition,the dependence of effective mobility on temperature from 100K to 300K was entirely analyzed, which indicated HfO2 remote phonon scattering as the dominant cause of the mobility degradation in n- and p-type MOSFETs when titanium decreased. However, the gate leakage current is also strongly dependent on the nitrogen in metal gate. It is proved that the nitrogen can assivate the traps in HfO2 by pulse I-V,leading to the decrease in gate leakage dominated by Frenkel- Poole mechanism.

Electronic devices such as high power devices, microprocessors and memories in integrated circuit are primarily composed of metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), due to the advantages of low cost, low power consumption and easy to scale down. However, the aggressively scaled conventional MOS devices have suffered remarkable short channel effects such as drain induced barrier lowering, punch-through, and direct-tunneling gate leakage. These problems not only lower the gate controllability but also increase the standby power consumption. Because the SiO2 dielectric and poly-gate are improper for CMOS application below 45 nm technology node due to the critical gate leakage current. Therefore, we investigate the electrical characteristics and physical mechanisms of MOSFETs with HfO2/TixN1-x gate stacks by using split C-V, pulsed Id-Vg, and charge-pumping techniques. The experimental results indicate that dynamic stress is more serious than static stress, and hot-carrier effect corresponding to different gate stress biases demonstrate distinct dominant degradation behaviors and the charge-trapping phenomenon. Furthermore, different concentration of titanium in TiN metal gate significantly affect device characteristics associated with the amount of nitrogen diffusion from the metal gate to high-k bulk and the SiO2/Si interface layer.

For the high performance integrated circuits applications such as microprocessors, memories and high power devices, the metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) is the most important device due to its low cost, power consumption and scalable property especially. However, the aggressive scaling of conventional MOS devices suffered from noticeable short channel effects such as drain induction barrier lower, punch through, and direct tunneling gate leakage. Those problems not only lower the gate control ability but also increase the standby power consumption. For future VLSI devises below 65 nm regimes, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and high-k/metal gate MOSFETs are considered to be possible candidates because of faster operation speed and lower power consumption. Therefore, this dissertation investigates the electrical characteristics and reliability issues of novel MOSFETs for 65 nm and below technology. It is roughly divided into two parts, partially depleted (PD) SOI MOSFETs and high-k/metal gate stack MOSFETs, respectively. In the first part, we systematically investigate the mechanism of gate-induced floating body effect (GIFBE) for advanced PD SOI n-MOSFETs. Based on different operation conditions, it was found that the dominant mechanism can be attributed to the anode hole injection (AHI) rather than the widely accepted mechanism of electron-valence band (EVB) tunneling. Analyzing the GIFBE in different temperature provides further evidence that the accumulation of holes in the body results from the AHI induced direct tunneling current from the poly-Si gate. In addition, we proposed an approach by bending silicon substrate to further study the impact of mechanical strain on GIFBE. The experimental result indicates that the strain effect indeed decreases the gate leakage current, but increases the hole-valence band (HVB) tunneling current, which indicates that GIFBE becomes serious under mechanical strain. Based on our proposed AHI model, this phenomenon can be mainly due to strain-induced band gap narrowing in the poly-Si gate. In p-type MOSFETs, the reliability issue, named negative bias temperature instability (NBTI), is the dominant degradation mechanism during ON-state operation. Therefore, we also investigate the GIFBE on NBTI degradation for PD SOI p-MOSFETs. The experimental results indicate GIFBE causes a reduction in the electrical oxide field, leading to an underestimate of NBTI degradation. This can be partially attributed to the electrons tunneling from the process-induced partial n+ poly gate. However, based on different operation conditions, we found the dominant origin of electrons was strongly dependent on holes in the inversion layer under source/drain grounding. Therefore, we propose the anode electron injection (AEI) model, similar to anode hole injection model, to explain how this main electron origin is generated during the NBTI stress. Finally, based on our proposed model, we further study influence of mechanical strain on GIFBE for SOI p-MOSFETs. On the other hand, the SiO2 dielectric and poly-gate are unsuitable for CMOS application below 45 nm technology node due to unacceptable gate leakage current. Therefore, in the second part of this thesis, we investigate the electrical characteristics and physical mechanisms for MOSFETs with HfO2/TixN1-x stacks by using split C-V, DC Id-Vg, and charge pumping techniques. The experimental results indicates that different ratio of Ti strongly affect various parameters, including threshold voltage, mobility, and subthreshold swing, respectively. In addition, the gate leakage current is also strongly dependent on the nitrogen in metal gate. By charge pumping technique, it was found that with increasing Ti concentration of metal gate, there is a trade-off relationship among the interface traps and bulk defects of high-k dielectric. This phenomenon is associated with the amount of nitride diffusion from the metal gate to high-k bulk and SiO2/Si interface layer. In the aspects of reliability, charge trapping in high-k gate stacks remains an important issue since it causes the threshold voltage (Vth) shift and drive current degradation. This phenomenon can be attributed to a large number of pre-existing traps in the high-k dielectric layer. In real circuit operation, the devices are generally operated in the dynamic condition. Therefore, the following study further investigates Vth instability of Hf-based n-MOSFETs under the dynamic bias operation. The static condition was also performed on the identical device for a comparison. The results indicate threshold voltage (Vth) instability under dynamic stress is more serious than that under static stress, owning to transient charge trapping within high-k dielectric. In addition, the Vth shift clearly increases with an increase in dynamic stress operation frequency. According to these experimental results, we propose a possible physical model for electron trapping phenomena under dynamic stress. Based on our proposed model, we further dynamic stress induced charge trapping characteristics for devices with different Ti1-xNx composition of metal-gate electrodes. In addition, we further respectively investigates the temperature dependence of dynamic positive bias stress (PBS) and negative bias stress (NBS) degradation in n-type and p-type MOSFETs with high-k/metal gate stacks. The experimental results indicate there is a contrary trend in temperature dependence of Vth shifts for n- and p-MOSFETs under dynamic PBS and NBS, respectively. The Vth shift decreases with increasing temperature for n-MOSFETs under dynamic PBS. This is due to the thermal emission of trapped electrons in high temperature, leading to the reduction in. A contrary trend with temperature for p-MOSFETs under dynamic NBS can be attributed to the interface trap generation induced by NBTI. On the other hand, hot carrier effect in high-k/metal gate n-MOSFETs was still one of major device reliability concern in device scaling. However, the stress-induced drain leakage current degradation in device with high-k/metal gate stacks has not received as much attention. In fact, the GIDL behavior is associated with phenomenon of charge trapping in high-k dielectric layer. Therefore, the final study is to investigate the effects of channel hot carrier stress (CHCS) on the gate-induced drain leakage current (GIDL) for n-MOSFETs with HfO2/Ti1-xNx gate stacks. It was found that the behavior of GIDL current during CHCS has dependence with the interfacial layer (IL) oxide thickness of high-k/metal gate stacks. As IL thickness becomes thinner, the GIDL current has a gradual decrease during CHCS, which is contrary to the result of thick-oxide IL devices. Based on the variation of GIDL current in different stress voltage across gate and drain terminals, trap-assisted band to band holes injection model was proposed to explain the different behavior of GIDL current for different IL thickness. Furthermore, we also investigated the impact of different Ti1-xNx composition of metal gate electrode on the IGIDL after CHCS, and observed that the magnitude of IGIDL decreases with the increase of nitride ratio. This is due to the fact that nitride atoms diffusing from the metal gate fill up oxygen vacancies, and reduce the concentration of traps in high-k dielectric.

Les dernières technologies microélectroniques embarquent des transistors dont les isolants de grille sont des isolants à forte constante diélectrique (high-k en anglais) associés à des grilles métalliques (on utilise l'abréviation HKMG pour high-k – metal gate). Si cet empilement permet de garder une quantité de charges suffisante dans le canal, il est plus difficile de contrôler les tensions de seuil des transistors à cause de la présence de charges et de dipôle dans ces couches ou aux interfaces. Deux études préliminaires ont établi qu'il existe une corrélation entre les énergies de liaisons des éléments mesurées par XPS d'un empilement HKMG et la tension de seuil d'un transistor utilisant ce même empilement. Des charges sont présentes dans les couches isolantes des empilements HKMG, conduisant à un décalage du potentiel électrostatique au sein de ces couches. Ceci induit une modification du travail de sortie effectif de l'électrode métallique du transistor. Et en XPS ces charges induisent une variation de l'énergie cinétique des électrons extraits des couches se trouvant sous ces charges. L'objectif de cette thèse est de simuler de manière quantitative l'impact électrostatique induit par ces charges et dipôles et de comparer cet impact aux décalages des raies XPS ainsi qu'aux mesures électriques des tensions de seuil des transistors. Ceci permettra ensuite d'estimer la variation des tensions seuil des transistors très en amont dans le procédé de fabrication / The last microelectronic technologies includes transistors with materials of high dielectric constant (high-k ) associated to metal gate (we use the abbreviation HKMG for high-k - bad metal). If this pile allows to keep a sufficient quantity of charges in the channel, it is more difficult to check the threshold voltage of transistors because of the presence of charge and of dipole in these layers or in the interfaces. Two preliminary studies established that there is a correlation between the binding energies measured by XPS of a pile HKMG and the threshold voltage of a transistor using the same pile. Charges are present in the insulating layers of piles HKMG, leading to a difference of the electrostatic potential within these layers. A modification of the effective workfunction of the metallic electrode of the transistor in s then observed, and in XPS these charges lead t oa variation of the kinetic energy of electrons extracted from the layer. The purpose of this thesis is simulate in a quantitative way the electrostatic impact of this charges and dipôles and to compare this impact with the observation made by XPS as well as with the electric measures of the threshold voltage of transistors. This will then allow to estimate the variation of the threshold voltage of transistors well further in the manufacturing process.

Ruthenium and ruthenium dioxide thin films have shown great promise in various applications, such as thick film resistors, buffer layers for yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) superconducting thin films, and as electrodes in ferroelectric memories. Other potential applications in Si based complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices are currently being studied. The search for alternative metal-based gate electrodes as a replacement of poly-Si gates has intensified during the last few years. Metal gates are required to maintain scaling and performance of future CMOS devices. Ru based materials have many desirable properties and are good gate electrode candidates for future metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) device applications. Moreover, Ru and RuO2 are promising candidates as diffusion barriers for copper interconnects. In this thesis, the thermal stability and interfacial diffusion and reaction of both Ru and RuO2 thin films on HfO2 gate dielectrics were investigated using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). An overview of Ru and RuO2/HfO2 interface integrity issues will be presented. In addition, the effects of C ion modification of RuO2 thin films on the physico-chemical and electrical properties are evaluated.

A novel high-k gate dielectric material, i.e., hafnium-doped tantalum oxide (Hf-doped TaOx), has been studied for the application of the future generation metal-oxidesemiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). The film's electrical, chemical, and structural properties were investigated experimentally. The incorporation of Hf into TaOx impacted the electrical properties. The doping process improved the effective dielectric constant, reduced the fixed charge density, and increased the dielectric strength. The leakage current density also decreased with the Hf doping concentration. MOS capacitors with sub-2.0 nm equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) have been achieved with the lightly Hf-doped TaOx. The low leakage currents and high dielectric constants of the doped films were explained by their compositions and bond structures. The Hf-doped TaOx film is a potential high-k gate dielectric for future MOS transistors. A 5 àtantalum nitride (TaNx) interface layer has been inserted between the Hf-doped TaOx films and the Si substrate to engineer the high-k/Si interface layer formation and properties. The electrical characterization result shows that the insertion of a 5 àTaNx between the doped TaOx films and the Si substrate decreased the film's leakage current density and improved the effective dielectric constant (keffective) value. The improvement of these dielectric properties can be attributed to the formation of the TaOxNy interfacial layer after high temperature O2 annealing. The main drawback of the TaNx interface layer is the high interface density of states and hysteresis, which needs to be decreased. Advanced metal nitride gate electrodes, e.g., tantalum nitride, molybdenum nitride, and tungsten nitride, were investigated as the gate electrodes for atomic layer deposition (ALD) HfO2 high-k dielectric material. Their physical and electrical properties were affected by the post metallization annealing (PMA) treatment conditions. Work functions of these three gate electrodes are suitable for NMOS applications after 800°C PMA. Metal nitrides can be used as the gate electrode materials for the HfO2 high-k film. The novel high-k gate stack structures studied in this study are promising candidates to replace the traditional poly-Si-SiO2 gate stack structure for the future CMOS technology node.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo investigar o comportamento de transistores SOI de porta tripla com óxido de porta de alta constante dielétrica e eletrodo de porta de metal. Inicialmente estudou-se a aplicação dos métodos de extração de parâmetros através de curvas da capacitância, previamente desenvolvidos para estruturas SOI planares, em dispositivos de porta tripla com óxido de porta de háfnio (HfO2) e porta de metal com nitreto de titânio (TiN). Foram utilizados dispositivos com grandes dimensões, onde a influência das portas laterais pode ser desprezada, apresentando desta forma, um comportamento similar aos dispositivos com geometria planar. Simulações numéricas tridimensionais seguidas de medidas experimentais validam a utilização desses métodos em estruturas de múltiplas portas com grande largura de canal. A capacitância também foi utilizada para se analisar a influência que o efeito de canto exerce sobre estas estruturas de múltiplas portas. Na seqüência, foi investigado o impacto que a variação da espessura da porta de metal TiN causa nas características elétricas dos transistores SOI de porta tripla com óxido de porta de silicato de óxido de háfnio (HfSiO). Parâmetros como tensão de limiar, função de trabalho, mobilidade, cargas de interface assim como as características analógicas foram analisadas. Os resultados indicaram que camadas de TiN mais finas são mais atrativas, apresentando menor tensão de limiar e armadilhas de interface, assim como um aumento na mobilidade e no ganho intrínseco do transistor. Contudo uma maior corrente de fuga pelo óxido de porta é vista nestes dispositivos. Juntamente com esta análise, o comportamento de transistores de porta tripla com dielétrico de porta de silicato de óxido de háfnio nitretado (HfSiON) também foi estudado, onde observou-se um maior impacto nas cargas de interface para o óxido de háfnio nitretado. Contudo, o mesmo é capaz de reduzir a difusão de impurezas até o óxido de silício (SiO2) interfacial com o canal de silício. Finalmente transistores de porta tripla com diferentes composições de estrutura de porta foram estudados experimentalmente, onde uma camada de óxido de disprósio (Dy2O3) foi depositada entre o silicato de óxido de háfnio (HfSiO) e a porta de metal TiN. Observou-se uma redução na tensão de limiar nos dispositivos com o óxido de disprósio assim como uma variação na tensão de faixa plana. Em resumo, quando a camada de óxido de disprósio foi depositada dentro da porta de metal TiN, uma melhor interface foi obtida, assim como uma maior espessura de óxido efetivo, indicando desta forma uma menor corrente de fuga. / The main goal of this work is to investigate the behavior of SOI triple gate transistors with high dielectric constant gate oxide and metal gate material. Initially it was studied the application of process parameters extraction methods through capacitance curves, developed previously for planar SOI structures, in the triple-gate devices with hafnium gate oxide (HfO2) and metal gate of titanium nitride (TiN). Devices with larger dimensions were used, where the lateral gate influence can be neglected, presenting a planar behavior. Three-dimensional numerical simulations followed by experimental measurements validated the methods used in multiple-gate structures with wide channel width. The capacitance was also used in order to analyze the corner effect influence under these structures. In sequence, it was investigated the impact that the metal gate TiN thickness variation cause on the electric characteristics on the SOI triple gate transistors with silicate of hafnium oxide (HfSiO) as gate oxide. Beyond threshold voltage, work function, mobility, interface trap density and analog characteristics were analyzed. The results showed that thinner TiN are highly attractive, showing a reduction on the threshold voltage and trap density, an improved mobility and of the intrinsic gain of the transistor. However, an increase on the leakage current is observed in these devices. Together with this analyzes the behavior of triple gate transistors with gate dielectric of silicate of hafnium oxide nitrated (HfSiON) was also studied, where for the HfSiON a higher interface trap density impact was observed. Nevertheless it is efficient on the reduction impurity diffusion to cross until the silicon oxide (SiO2) that interfaces with the silicon channel. Finally, triple gate transistors with different gate stacks were experimentally studied, where a dysprosium oxide layer (Dy2O3) was deposited between the silicate of hafnium oxide (HfSiO) and the TiN metal gate. We observed a reduction in the threshold voltage of theses devices with dysprosium oxide as well as a variation of flatband voltage. In summary, when the dysprosium oxide layer was deposited inside the TiN metal gate, a better interface was obtained, as well as a higher effective oxide thickness, resulting in a lower leakage current.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo investigar o comportamento de transistores SOI de porta tripla com óxido de porta de alta constante dielétrica e eletrodo de porta de metal. Inicialmente estudou-se a aplicação dos métodos de extração de parâmetros através de curvas da capacitância, previamente desenvolvidos para estruturas SOI planares, em dispositivos de porta tripla com óxido de porta de háfnio (HfO2) e porta de metal com nitreto de titânio (TiN). Foram utilizados dispositivos com grandes dimensões, onde a influência das portas laterais pode ser desprezada, apresentando desta forma, um comportamento similar aos dispositivos com geometria planar. Simulações numéricas tridimensionais seguidas de medidas experimentais validam a utilização desses métodos em estruturas de múltiplas portas com grande largura de canal. A capacitância também foi utilizada para se analisar a influência que o efeito de canto exerce sobre estas estruturas de múltiplas portas. Na seqüência, foi investigado o impacto que a variação da espessura da porta de metal TiN causa nas características elétricas dos transistores SOI de porta tripla com óxido de porta de silicato de óxido de háfnio (HfSiO). Parâmetros como tensão de limiar, função de trabalho, mobilidade, cargas de interface assim como as características analógicas foram analisadas. Os resultados indicaram que camadas de TiN mais finas são mais atrativas, apresentando menor tensão de limiar e armadilhas de interface, assim como um aumento na mobilidade e no ganho intrínseco do transistor. Contudo uma maior corrente de fuga pelo óxido de porta é vista nestes dispositivos. Juntamente com esta análise, o comportamento de transistores de porta tripla com dielétrico de porta de silicato de óxido de háfnio nitretado (HfSiON) também foi estudado, onde observou-se um maior impacto nas cargas de interface para o óxido de háfnio nitretado. Contudo, o mesmo é capaz de reduzir a difusão de impurezas até o óxido de silício (SiO2) interfacial com o canal de silício. Finalmente transistores de porta tripla com diferentes composições de estrutura de porta foram estudados experimentalmente, onde uma camada de óxido de disprósio (Dy2O3) foi depositada entre o silicato de óxido de háfnio (HfSiO) e a porta de metal TiN. Observou-se uma redução na tensão de limiar nos dispositivos com o óxido de disprósio assim como uma variação na tensão de faixa plana. Em resumo, quando a camada de óxido de disprósio foi depositada dentro da porta de metal TiN, uma melhor interface foi obtida, assim como uma maior espessura de óxido efetivo, indicando desta forma uma menor corrente de fuga. / The main goal of this work is to investigate the behavior of SOI triple gate transistors with high dielectric constant gate oxide and metal gate material. Initially it was studied the application of process parameters extraction methods through capacitance curves, developed previously for planar SOI structures, in the triple-gate devices with hafnium gate oxide (HfO2) and metal gate of titanium nitride (TiN). Devices with larger dimensions were used, where the lateral gate influence can be neglected, presenting a planar behavior. Three-dimensional numerical simulations followed by experimental measurements validated the methods used in multiple-gate structures with wide channel width. The capacitance was also used in order to analyze the corner effect influence under these structures. In sequence, it was investigated the impact that the metal gate TiN thickness variation cause on the electric characteristics on the SOI triple gate transistors with silicate of hafnium oxide (HfSiO) as gate oxide. Beyond threshold voltage, work function, mobility, interface trap density and analog characteristics were analyzed. The results showed that thinner TiN are highly attractive, showing a reduction on the threshold voltage and trap density, an improved mobility and of the intrinsic gain of the transistor. However, an increase on the leakage current is observed in these devices. Together with this analyzes the behavior of triple gate transistors with gate dielectric of silicate of hafnium oxide nitrated (HfSiON) was also studied, where for the HfSiON a higher interface trap density impact was observed. Nevertheless it is efficient on the reduction impurity diffusion to cross until the silicon oxide (SiO2) that interfaces with the silicon channel. Finally, triple gate transistors with different gate stacks were experimentally studied, where a dysprosium oxide layer (Dy2O3) was deposited between the silicate of hafnium oxide (HfSiO) and the TiN metal gate. We observed a reduction in the threshold voltage of theses devices with dysprosium oxide as well as a variation of flatband voltage. In summary, when the dysprosium oxide layer was deposited inside the TiN metal gate, a better interface was obtained, as well as a higher effective oxide thickness, resulting in a lower leakage current.

<p>The development and implementation of a metal gate technology (alloy, compound, or silicide) into metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) is necessary to extend the life of planar CMOS devices and enable further downscaling. This thesis examines possible metal gate materials for improving the performance of the gate stack and discusses process integration as well as improved electrical and physical measurement methodologies, tested on capacitor structures and transistors. </p><p>By using reactive PVD and gradually increasing the N₂/Ar flow ratio, it was found that the work function (on SiO₂) of the TiN_x and ZrN_x metal systems could be modulated ~0.7 eV from low near nMOS work functions to high pMOS work functions. After high-temperature anneals corresponding to junction activation, both metals systems reached mid-gap work function values. The mechanisms behind the work function changes are explained with XPS data and discussed in terms of metal gradients and Fermi level pinning due to extrinsic interface states.</p><p>A modified scheme for improved Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling is also shown, using degenerately doped silicon substrates. In that case, the work functions of ALD/PVD TaN were accurately determined on both SiO₂ and HfO₂ and benchmarked against IPE (Internal Photoemission) results. KFM (Kelvin Force Microscopy) was also used to physically measure the work functions of PVD TiN and Mo deposited on SiO₂; the results agreed well with <i>C-V</i> and <i>I-V</i> data.</p><p>Finally, an appealing combination of novel materials is demonstrated with ALD TiN/Al₂O₃/HfAlO_x/Al₂O₃/strained-SiGe surface channel pMOS devices. The drive current and transconductance were measured to be 30% higher than the Si reference, clearly demonstrating increased mobility and the absence of polydepletion. Finally, using similarly processed transistors with Al₂O₃ dielectric instead, low-temperature water vapour annealing was shown to improve the device characteristics by reducing the negative charge within the ALD Al₂O₃.</p>

Challenges with integrating high-κ gate dielectric,retrograde Si1-xGexchannel and silicided contacts in future CMOStechnologies are investigated experimentally and theoreticallyin this thesis. ρMOSFETs with either Si or strained Si1-xGex surface-channel and different high-κgate dielectric are examined. Si1-xGex ρMOSFETs with an Al2O3/HfAlOx/Al2O3nano-laminate gate dielectric prepared by means ofAtomic Layer Deposition (ALD) exhibit a great-than-30% increasein current drive and peak transconductance compared toreference Si ρMOSFETs with the same gate dielectric. Apoor high-κ/Si interface leading to carrier mobilitydegradation has often been reported in the literature, but thisdoes not seem to be the case for our Si ρMOSFETs whoseeffective mobility coincides with the universal hole mobilitycurve for Si. For the Si1-xGexρMOSFETs, however, a high density ofinterface states giving riseto reduced carrier mobility isobserved. A method to extract the correct mobility in thepresence of high-density traps is presented. Coulomb scatteringfrom the charged traps or trapped charges at the interface isfound to play a dominant role in the observed mobilitydegradation in the Si1-xGexρMOSFETs. Studying contacts with metal silicides constitutes a majorpart of this thesis. With the conventional device fabrication,the Si1-xGexincorporated for channel applications inevitablyextends to the source-drain areas. Measurement and modelingshow that the presence of Ge in the source/drain areaspositively affects the contact resistivity in such a way thatit is decreased by an order of magnitude for the contact of TiWto p-type Si1-xGex/Si when the Ge content is increased from 0 to 30at. %. Modeling and extraction of contact resistivity are firstcarried out for the traditional TiSi2-Si contact but with an emphasis on the influenceof a Nb interlayer for the silicide formation. Atwo-dimensional numerical model is employed to account foreffects due to current crowding. For more advanced contacts toultra-shallow junctions, Ni-based metallization scheme is used.NiSi1-xGex is found to form on selectively grown p-typeSi1-xGexused as low-resistivity source/drain. Since theformed NiSi1-xGex with a specific resistivity of 20 mWcmreplaces a significant fraction of the shallow junction, athree-dimensional numerical model is employed in order to takethe complex interface geometry and morphology into account. Thelowest contact resistivity obtained for our NiSi1-xGex/p-type Si1-xGexcontacts is 5´10-8Ωcm2, which satisfies the requirement for the 45-nmtechnology node in 2010. When the Si1-xGexchannel is incorporated in a MOSFET, it usuallyforms a retrograde channel with an undoped surface region on amoderately doped substrate. Charge sheet models are used tostudy the effects of a Si retrograde channel on surfacepotential, drain current, intrinsic charges and intrinsiccapacitances. Closed-form solutions are found for an abruptretrograde channel and results implicative for circuitdesigners are obtained. The model can be extended to include aSi1-xGexretrograde channel. Although the analytical modeldeveloped in this thesis is one-dimensional for long-channeltransistors with the retrograde channel profile varying alongthe depth of the transistor, it should also be applicable forshort-channel transistors provided that the short channeleffects are perfectly controlled. Key Words:MOSFET, SiGe, high-k dielectric, metal gate,mobility, charge sheet model, retrograde channel structure,intrinsic charge, intrinsic capacitance, contactresistivity.