The structural and electrical characteristics of in-situ nitrogen-incorporated plasma enhanced atomic
layer deposition (PE-ALD) HfOxNy thin films using NH3 and N2 plasmas as reactants were
comparatively studied. The HfOxNy test structures prepared using NH3 and N2 plasmas were
* Corresponding author.
E-mail mail: iyun@yonsei.ac.kr (I. Yun)
1 These authors contributed equally to this work.Page 2 of 19
Accepted Manuscript
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analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and high resolution
transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) to investigate the chemical composition, crystallinity,
and cross-sectional layers including the interfacial layer, respectively. By utilizing NH3 and N2
plasmas, the nitrogen-incorporated HfOxNy thin films fabricated by in-situ PE-ALD showed a high
dielectric constant and thermal stability, which suppresses the interfacial layer and increases the
crystallization temperature. The high leakage current densities of the HfOxNy thin film test structures
fabricated using NH3 and N2 plasmas caused by lowering the energy bandgap and band offset are
related to the Hf-N bond ratio and dielectric constant.