Investigation of the initial deposition steps and the interfacial layer of Atomic Layer Deposited (ALD) Al 2 O 3 on Si

Georgios Gakis (1, 2) , Constantin Vahlas (3) , Hugues Vergnes (4) , Sandrine Dourdain (5) , Yann Tison (6) , Hervé Martinez (6) , Jerôme Bour (7) , David Ruch (7) , Andreas Boudouvis (1) , Brigitte Caussat (4) , Emmanuel Scheid (8)

1 NTUA - National Technical University of Athens [Athens]
2 Toulouse INP - Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse)
3 CIRIMAT - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d'ingenierie des matériaux
4 LGC - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique
5 LPEC - Laboratoire de physique de l'état condensé
6 IPREM - Institut des sciences analytiques et de physico-chimie pour l'environnement et les materiaux
7 Advanced Materials and Structures
8 LAAS-MPN - Équipe Matériaux et Procédés pour la Nanoélectronique

During the first stages of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) of Al 2 O 3 on silicon (Si), the substrate nature affects the surface chemistry, leading to an initial island growth mode. Furthermore, an interfacial zone develops between the Si surface and the dielectric, thus damaging the physical properties of the deposited structure. In this work, these two main shortcomings are investigated for the ALD of Al 2 O 3 films on Si from TMA and H 2 O. The film and the interfacial zone are characterized by a complete range of techniques, including XRR, TEM, XPS, EDX and ToF-SIMS. In parallel, a computational model is developed to study the initial nucleation and growth steps of the film. An induction period is experimentally evidenced and numerically reproduced, together with the island growth and coalescence phenomena. The chemical composition of the (Al, O, Si) interfacial layer is precisely analyzed to get insight in the mechanisms of its formation. We show that Si oxidation occurs during the island growth, catalyzed by the presence of Al, while it is also fed by species interdiffusion through the ALD film.

Domaines: Matériaux; Matériaux

Georgios Gakis, Constantin Vahlas, Hugues Vergnes, Sandrine Dourdain, Yann Tison, et al.. Investigation of the initial deposition steps and the interfacial layer of Atomic Layer Deposited (ALD) Al 2 O 3 on Si. Applied Surface Science, 2019, 492, pp.245 - 254. ⟨10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.215⟩. ⟨hal-02396239⟩