Interface tuning and electrical property optimization of La-doped ZrO2 gate dielectric based on solution driving

Abstract

With the development of thin-film optoelectronic components and the increasing requirements for improved integration and performance of ultra-large-scale integrated circuits for devices, finding new high-k gate dielectrics to replace ZrO2 has become a challenge. Elemental doping is an effective method to further improve the dielectric properties of ZrO2. In this work, a novel gate dielectric material was prepared by doping ZrO2 with the rare-earth element La. The results show that the new gate media material has better performance; these include suppressing the crystallization of ZrO2 as well as obtaining a large band gap (∼5.74 eV), a large conduction band shift ΔEC (∼2.96 eV), and a low leakage current (∼6.3 × 10−6 A/cm2). In addition, La doping can significantly suppress the generation of thin-film oxygen vacancies and low-k layers. Furthermore, the leakage current transfer mechanism of the device is systematically investigated. This study provides new insights for selecting a suitable La doping content for the modification of future gate dielectric materials.