Photoemission Study of Interfacial Oxidation in ZrO2/subnanometer SiONx/Si(100) Stacked Structures

Abstract

ABSTRACTFor staked structures consisting of evaporated ZrO2 and ∼0.6nm-thick silicon oxynitride formed on Si(100), the blocking capability of the silicon oxynitride against oxidation in dry-O2 anneal at 500°C has been studied as a function of nitrogen content in the barrier layer in the range within ∼11at.%. With increasing nitrogen content, the interfacial oxide thickness is decreased linearly and, to suppress the growth of the interfacial oxide layer within two monolayers, a nitrogen content of ∼10at.% is necessary. Observed efficient blocking against oxidation, even for the case with a nitrogen content as small as ∼6at.%, is attributable to the improved homogeneity in the Si-O-Si bonding features at the interface by nitrogen incorporation of a few at.%, which is suggested from the experimental fact that the bandwidth of LO phonons near the interface due to the nitrogen incorporation is decreased as obtained by FT-IR-ATR measurements.