Controlling the defects and transition layer in SiO2 films grown on 4H-SiC via direct plasma-assisted oxidation
The structural stability and electrical performance of SiO 2 grown on SiC via direct plasma-assisted oxidation were investigated. To investigate the changes in the electronic structure and electrical characteristics caused by the interfacial reaction between the SiO 2 film (thickness ~ 5 nm) and SiC...
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Published in | Scientific reports Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 34945 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
Nature Publishing Group UK
10.10.2016
Nature Publishing Group |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The structural stability and electrical performance of SiO
2
grown on SiC via direct plasma-assisted oxidation were investigated. To investigate the changes in the electronic structure and electrical characteristics caused by the interfacial reaction between the SiO
2
film (thickness
~
5 nm) and SiC, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and electrical measurements were performed. The SiO
2
films grown via direct plasma-assisted oxidation at room temperature for 300s exhibited significantly decreased concentrations of silicon oxycarbides (SiO
x
C
y
) in the transition layer compared to that of conventionally grown (i.e., thermally grown) SiO
2
films. Moreover, the plasma-assisted SiO
2
films exhibited enhanced electrical characteristics, such as reduced frequency dispersion, hysteresis, and interface trap density (
D
it
≈ 10
11
cm
−2
· eV
−1
). In particular, stress induced leakage current (SILC) characteristics showed that the generation of defect states can be dramatically suppressed in metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) structures with plasma-assisted oxide layer due to the formation of stable Si-O bonds and the reduced concentrations of SiO
x
C
y
species defect states in the transition layer. That is, energetically stable interfacial states of high quality SiO
2
on SiC can be obtained by the controlling the formation of SiO
x
C
y
through the highly reactive direct plasma-assisted oxidation process. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 AC02-98CH10886 Yonsei University USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) Samsung Electronics |
ISSN: | 2045-2322 2045-2322 |
DOI: | 10.1038/srep34945 |