Temperature effect on the reliability of ZrO2 gate dielectric deposited directly on silicon

Temperature effect on the reliability of ZrO2 gate dielectric has been presented. High effective voltage-ramp breakdown field was observed. The activation energy of temperature accelerated voltage-ramp breakdown calculated from Arrhenius plot indicates that the breakdown of ZrO2 is less sensitive to temperature than thermal oxide of similar electrical thickness. ZrO2 films exhibit excellent TDDB characteristics with low charge trapping and no stress induced leakage current. The field and temperature acceleration for TDDB for the 15.8 angstroms capacitance equivalent oxide thickness (CET) ZrO2 shows that the activation energy for TDDB falls into the range reported for oxide from 39 angstroms to 150 angstroms. It was found that the extrapolated 10-year lifetime operating voltage can be as high as -1.9 V even at 150 °C based on the `log(tBD) vs E' extrapolation model for a film with a CET of 15.8 angstroms.