HfO₂ gate dielectric with 0.5 nm equivalent oxide thickness

Hafnium dioxide films have been deposited using reactive electron beam evaporation in oxygen on hydrogenated Si(100) surfaces. The capacitance-voltage curves of as-deposited metal(Ti)-insulator-semiconductor structures exhibited large hysteresis and frequency dispersion. With post-deposition annealing in hydrogen at 300°C, the frequency dispersion decreased to less than 1%/decade, while the hysteresis was reduced to 20 mV at flatband. An equivalent oxide thickness of 0.5 nm was achieved for HfO₂ thickness of 3.0 nm. We attribute this result to a combination of pristine hydrogen saturated silicon surfaces, room temperature dielectric deposition, and low temperature hydrogen annealing.