Interfacial layer defects and instabilities in HfO2 MOS structures

Recent studies have demonstrated that deep level defects very near the Si/dielectric boundary are important reliability problems in HfO2 based devices. In this study, we provide a partial identification of the chemical and structural nature of an electrically active center which is present in the interfacial layer (IL) of HfO2 based devices. The defect almost certainly involves an oxygen deficient silicon probably weakly coupled to a nearby hafnium atom.