Applied Materials, Inc.
Amorphous Silicon-Based Scavenging And Sealing EOT

Abstract:

A sacrificial sealing layer is formed on a high-K metal gate (HKMG) stack to suppress oxidants, e.g., oxygen and water, from impacting the metal gate stack, thus preserving the device EOT. The method integrated processes that include forming an interfacial layer on the substrate; forming a high-K metal oxide layer on the interfacial layer, the high-K metal oxide layer comprising a dipole region adjacent to the interfacial layer, the dipole region; depositing a capping layer on the high-K metal oxide layer; and forming a sacrificial sealing layer on the capping layer. The dipole region is formed by driving a dopant species, e.g., zinc (Zn), vanadium (V), tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), ruthenium (Ru), titanium (Ti), tantalum (Ta), zirconium (Zr), aluminum (Al), niobium (Nb), or mixtures thereof, of a dipole film into the high-K metal oxide layer to form a dipole region.