New Materials for Memory Applications by Atomic Layer Deposition

Abstract

The architectures of integrated logic and memory devices have shifted from 2D to 3D layouts, enabling a continued scaling of device densities. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) allows the conformal deposition of thin films with sub-nm thickness control on high aspect ratio 3D structures. ALD has become the technique of choice for the synthesis of an increasing number of materials in advanced logic and memory devices. In the first part of this presentation, we briefly review some of the key ALD processes which enable the fabrication of state-of-the-art 3D-NAND and 2D-DRAM. Next, we present the ALD of emerging ferroelectric HfZrO developed at ASM in industrial scale ALD reactors. HfO2 has been established as the preferred gate oxide material for logic devices for almost two decades. The recent discovery of ferroelectricity in HfO2 has opened new applications for HfO2-based materials as active memory elements in DRAM and 3D-NAND. We show that ALD La:HfZrO can achieve high polarization field (2Pr > 60 uC/cm2) and high endurance (> 107 cycle) by applying interface engineering schemes and optimizing deposition processes and film composition (i.e. Hf/Zr ratio, dopant concentration).