Effects of charge and dipole on flatband voltage in an MOS device with a Gd-doped HfO2 dielectric

Gd-doped HfO2 has drawn worldwide interest for its interesting features.It is considered to be a suitable material for N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor(MOS)devices due to a negative flatband voltage(Vfb)shift caused by the Gd doping.In this work,an anomalous positive shift was observed when Gd was doped into HfO2.The cause for such a phenomenon was systematically investigated by distinguishing the effects of different factors,such as Fermi level pinning(FLP),a dipole at the dielectric/SiO2interface,fixed interfacial charge,and bulk charge,on Vfb.It was found that the FLP and interfacial dipole could make Vfbnegatively shifted,which is in agreement with the conventional dipole theory.The increase in interfacial fixed charge resulting from Gd doping plays a major role in positive Vfbshift.