Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 January 2016
For exploring the prospect of higher-k dielectric phase engineering on a highmobility substrate, films of Hf1-xZrxO2 withvarying x-values (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) were deposited onAl2O3 passivated Ge substrates using atomic layerdeposition (ALD) with a cyclic deposit-anneal-deposit-anneal (DADA) scheme. Theevolution of monoclinic to higher-k tetragonal structure with increasingZrO2 concentration was probed by grazing incident x-raydiffraction and partial reciprocal space maps using the highly brilliantsynchrotron x-ray source at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS).A primarily amorphous/nano-crystalline matrix of the asdeposited films changedto randomly aligned grains of nanocrystalline MO2 (M=Hf, Zr)after post deposition annealing at 800 °C for 200 seconds. In contrast,the DADA films annealed for same thermal budget showed high degree of preferredorientation along certain crystallographic directions. With increasingZrO2 content, the structure of the films changed from a monoclinic toa tetragonal phase. A lower amount of ZrO2 (x = 0.33) wasrequired for stabilizing the tetragonal phase in films grown onAl2O3 passivated Ge substrate as compared to similarfilms grown on a Si substrate via the same DADA process (x ≥0.50).