Breakdown transients in high-k multilayered MOS stacks: Role of the oxide-oxide thermal boundary resistance

In this work, breakdown transients of multilayered gate oxide stacks were analyzed to study the impact of the interfaces between oxides on the heat dissipation considering an electromigration-based progressive breakdown model. Using two distinct measurement setups on four different sets of samples, featuring two layers and three layers of Al 2 O 3 and HfO 2 interspersed, the breakdown transients were captured and characterized in terms of the degradation rate. Experimental results show that the number of oxide-oxide interfaces present in the multilayered stack has no visible impact on the breakdown growth rate among our samples. This strongly supports the interpretation of the bulk materials dominating the heat transfer to the surroundings of a fully formed conductive filament that shows no electrical differences between our various multilayered stack configurations.Fil: Boyeras Baldomá, Santiago. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Pazos, Sebastián Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; ArgentinaFil: Aguirre, F. L.. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; ArgentinaFil: Palumbo, Felix Roberto Mario. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Anomalous out-of-equilibrium dynamics in the spin-ice material Dy<SUB>2</SUB>Ti<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>7</SUB> under moderate magnetic fields

We study experimentally and numerically the dynamics of the spin ice material Dy2Ti2O7 in the low temperature (T) and moderate magnetic field ( B ) regime (T ∈ [0.1, 1.7]  K, B ∈ [0, 0.3]  T). Our objective is to understand the main physics shaping the out-of-equilibrium magnetisation vs temperature curves in two different regimes. Very far from equilibrium, turning on the magnetic field after having cooled the system in zero field (ZFC) can increase the concentration of magnetic monopoles (localised thermal excitations present in these systems); this accelerates the dynamics. Similarly to electrolytes, this occurs through dissociation of bound monopole pairs. However, for spin ices the polarisation of the vacuum out of which the monopole pairs are created is a key factor shaping the magnetisation curves, with no analog. We observe a threshold field near 0.2 T for this fast dynamics to take place, linked to the maximum magnetic force between the attracting pairs. Surprisingly, within a regime of low temperatures and moderate fields, an extended Ohm's law can be used to describe the ZFC magnetisation curve obtained with the dipolar spin-ice model. However, in real samples the acceleration of the dynamics appears even sharper than in simulations, possibly due to the presence of avalanches. On the other hand, the effect of the field nearer equilibrium can be just the opposite to that at very low temperatures. Single crystals, as noted before for powders, abandon equilibrium at a blocking temperature T B which increases with field. Curiously, this behaviour is present in numerical simulations even within the nearest-neighbours interactions model. Simulations and experiments show that the increasing trend in T B is stronger for B ‖[100]. This suggests that the field plays a part in the dynamical arrest through monopole suppression, which is quite manifest for this field orientation.Instituto de Física de Líquidos y Sistemas Biológico

Impact of bilayered oxide stacks on the breakdown transients of Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor devices: an experimental study

The role of the bilayered structure of the gate oxide on the dynamics of progressive breakdown is systematically studied on Au / Cr / HfO 2 / Al 2 O 3 / InGaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor stacks. Samples with bilayered oxides of 100 Å total thickness were fabricated using different Al 2 O 3 interfacial layer thicknesses to investigate the effects of combining insulator materials with largely different electrical and thermal properties. The breakdown current growth rate d I B D / d t was captured by means of low and high bandwidth measurement setups, and the results were compared in the framework of an electromigration-based progressive breakdown model, originally derived for single-layered oxides. Experimental results show that as the interfacial layer is thicker, a clear increase is observed on the applied voltage required to obtain d I B D / d t values in the same range. However, this effect is not observed for thicknesses above 10 Å for the Al 2 O 3 layer. This is linked to both the electrical stress distribution across the bilayered structure and to the thermal characteristics of Al 2 O 3 that contribute to reduce the temperature of the breakdown spot. The progressive breakdown model is modified to account for these features, showing good agreement with experimental results, behavior that cannot be explained by the model considering one of the layers as already broken during progressive breakdown.Fil: Pazos, Sebastián Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; ArgentinaFil: Boyeras Baldomá, Santiago. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; ArgentinaFil: Aguirre, Fernando Leonel. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Krylov, Igor. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Eizenberg, M.. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Palumbo, Felix Roberto Mario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; Argentin

Wear-out and breakdown of Ta2O5/Nb:SrTiO3 stacks

Tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) is widely used in electronics, with important applications in backend capacitors and memristors. However, major technological challenges have to be faced and solved. Also, concerns related to the reliability of these new stacks have to be taken into consideration. We report the reliability of Ta2O5 films focusing on the dynamics of the charge trapping and their leakage behavior under a constant voltage stress. We leverage the use of Nb:SrTiO3 back electrodes as a clean, well-defined surface, allowing the study of the Ta2O5 layer with no significant interface effects. The main features of the breakdown Ta2O5/Nb:SrTiO3 stacks are presented and analyzed in terms of an electromigration-based model. Our results outline the performance limits of Ta2O5 films, providing guidelines for development and integration of current and future devices.Fil: Boyeras Baldomá, Santiago. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; ArgentinaFil: Pazos, Sebastián Matías. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; ArgentinaFil: Aguirre, F. L.. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Ankonina, G.. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Kornblum, L.. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Yalon, E.. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Palumbo, Felix Roberto Mario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; Argentin

Role of reactive gas on the structure and properties of titanium nitride films grown by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition

The authors report on the role of various reactive gases on the structure and properties of TiN thin films prepared by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) from tetrakis(dimethylamido)titanium. The reactive gas plays an important role determining the film structure and properties. Nitrogen-based plasma (N-2 and NH3) resulted in low oxygen (∼3%) and carbon (∼2%) contamination and well-defined columnar grain structure. A nitrogen excess (∼4%) was found in the films deposited using N2 plasma. The stoichiometric films and lowest resistivity (∼80 μΩ cm) were achieved using NH3 plasma. Deposition using H2 plasma resulted in higher carbon and oxygen contamination (∼6% for each element). The reactive gas also plays an important role in determining the grain size and preferential orientation. By varying the plasma chemistry, either (111) or (100) oriented films can be obtained. A mechanism determining the PEALD TiN preferential orientation is proposed. Finally, plasma induced degradation of the underlying dielectric layer is evaluated.Fil: Krylov, Igor. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Xu, Xianbin. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Zoubenko, Ekaterina. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Weinfeld, Kamira. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Boyeras Baldomá, Santiago. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; ArgentinaFil: Palumbo, Félix Roberto Mario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; ArgentinaFil: Eizenberg, Moshe. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Ritter, Dan. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; Israe

Temperature of Conductive Nanofilaments in Hexagonal Boron Nitride Based Memristors Showing Threshold Resistive Switching

Two-terminal metal/insulator/metal (MIM) memristors exhibiting threshold resistive switching (RS) can develop advanced key tasks in solid-state nano/ micro-electronic circuits, such as selectors and integrate-and-fire electronic neurons. MIM-like memristors using multilayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as dielectric are especially interesting because they have shown threshold RS with ultra-low energy consumption per state transition down to the zeptojoule regime. However, the factors enabling stable threshold RS at such low operation energies are still not fully understood. Here it is shown that the threshold RS in 150 nm × 150 nm Au/Ag/h-BN/Au memristors is especially stable because the temperature in the h-BN stack during operation (i.e., at low currents ≈1 μA) is very low (i.e., ≈310 K), due to the high in-plane thermal conductivity of h-BN and its low thickness. Only when the device is operated at higher currents (i.e., ≈200 μA) the temperatures at the h-BN increase remarkably (i.e., >500 K), which produce a stable non-volatile conductive nanofilament (CNF). This work can bring new insights to understand the performance of 2D materials based RS devices, and help to develop the integration of 2D materials in high-density nanoelectronics.Fil: Lanza, Mario. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Arabia SauditaFil: Palumbo, Felix Roberto Mario. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Shi, Yuanyuan. Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre; BélgicaFil: Aguirre, Fernando Leonel. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Boyeras Baldomá, Santiago. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Yuan, Bin. Universidad de Barcelona; España. Guangdong Technion – Israel Institute of Technology; ChinaFil: Yalon, Eilam. Technion–Israel Institute of Technology; IsraelFil: Moreno, Enrique. University of Lyon; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Wu, Tianru. Shanghai Tech University; ChinaFil: Roldan, Juan B.. Universidad de Granada; Españ