학술논문

CMOS-Compatible Low-T Processing Methods for HZO-based DRAM capacitors by E-field Cycling
Document Type
Conference
Source
2024 IEEE International Memory Workshop (IMW) Memory Workshop (IMW), 2024 IEEE International. :1-4 May, 2024
Subject
Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Computing and Processing
Annealing
Zirconium
Capacitors
Random access memory
Crystallization
Propulsion
MIM capacitors
DRAM capacitors
E-field cycling
equivalent oxide thickness (EOT)
leakage current
hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO)
high-k dielectric materials
Language
ISSN
2573-7503
Abstract
To propel the miniaturization of the dynamic random access memories (DRAM), obtaining capacitor dielectric materials of lower equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) and lower leakage is essential. Herein, we demonstrate a CMOS compatible (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) post-processing method for HZO-based metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors, namely, low-temperature annealing combined with electric field (E-field) cycling. The low-temperature annealing process induces crystallization of the dielectric material, while the subsequent E-field cycling method further enhances the crystallization and fine-tunes the HZO phases to achieve high-k. Compared with direct high-temperature annealing, this approach not only has a lower thermal budget which makes it compatible with the CMOS fabrication processes, it also can achieve a smaller EOT while maintaining low leakage, satisfying the requirements of the capacitor dielectric materials for the next-generation DRAM cell.