Interfacial materials for use in semiconductor structures and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9536940-B2
Application number	US-201213622667-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2012
Priority date	Sep 19, 2012
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

A method of forming a semiconductor structure. The method comprises forming a high-k dielectric material, forming a continuous interfacial material over the high-k dielectric material, and forming a conductive material over the continuous interfacial material. Additional methods and semiconductor structures are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a semiconductor structure, comprising:
forming a high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide;
forming a continuous interfacial material comprising an oxide or suboxide of titanium over the high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide; and
forming a titanium nitride material over the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming a continuous interfacial material comprising an oxide or suboxide of titanium over the high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide comprises forming the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium over the high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide without using a halogen-containing metal precursor.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming a titanium nitride material over the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium comprises forming the titanium nitride material over the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium using a halogen-containing metal precursor.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming a continuous interfacial material comprising an oxide or suboxide of titanium over the high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide comprises forming the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium by atomic layer deposition over the high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein forming the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium by atomic layer deposition over the high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide comprises performing between one atomic layer deposition cycle and eight atomic layer deposition cycles.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a capping material between the high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide and the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming a titanium nitride material over the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium comprises forming the titanium nitride material over the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium at a temperature of greater than or equal to approximately 350° C.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming a titanium nitride material over the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium comprises forming the titanium nitride material over the continuous interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium by atomic layer deposition at a temperature of approximately 550° C.

9. A method of forming a semiconductor structure, comprising:
forming an interfacial material between a high-k dielectric material and a titanium nitride material, the high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide, and the interfacial material comprising an oxide or suboxide of titanium in contact with an entire upper surface of the high-k dielectric material.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein forming an interfacial material comprises forming the interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium by atomic layer deposition.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein forming an interfacial material comprises forming the oxide or suboxide of titanium using an organometallic precursor.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein forming the oxide or suboxide of titanium using an organometallic precursor comprises using an organometallic precursor selected from the group consisting of tetrakis(dimethylamido)titanium (TDMAT), methylcyclopentadienyl tris(dimethylamino)titanium (TIMCTA), bis(diethylamido)-bis(dimethylamido)titanium, tetrakis(diethylamido)titanium, tetrakis(ethylmethylamido)titanium, and titanium tert-butoxide.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein forming an interfacial material between a high-k dielectric material and a titanium nitride material comprises forming a continuous monolayer of the interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium between the high-k dielectric material and the titanium nitride material.

14. A semiconductor structure, comprising a titanium nitride material;
a high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide; and
a continuous interfacial material comprising an oxide or suboxide of titanium between the titanium nitride material and the high-k dielectric material comprising zirconium oxide.

15. The semiconductor structure of claim 14 , wherein the continuous interfacial material comprising an oxide or suboxide of titanium comprises titanium oxide or titanium suboxide at a thickness of from approximately 1 Å to approximately 20Å.

16. A method of forming a capacitor, comprising:
forming a high-k dielectric material consisting of zirconium oxide directly over a bottom electrode;
forming an interfacial material comprising an oxide or suboxide of titanium in direct contact with the high-k dielectric material consisting of zirconium oxide; and
forming a top electrode comprising titanium over the interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein forming an interfacial material comprising an oxide or suboxide of titanium in direct contact with the high-k dielectric material consisting of zirconium oxide comprises forming the oxide or suboxide of titanium using an organometallic precursor in direct contact with the high-k dielectric material consisting of zirconium oxide.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein forming a top electrode comprising titanium comprises forming a titanium nitride top electrode using TiCl 4 .

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein forming a top electrode comprising titanium comprises forming a titanium nitride top electrode by atomic layer deposition at a temperature of approximately 550° C.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein forming a top electrode comprising titanium over the interfacial material comprising the oxide or suboxide of titanium comprises forming a top electrode comprising TiN over the interfacial material comprising TiO 2 .

21. A capacitor comprising:
a high-k dielectric material consisting of zirconium oxide directly over a bottom electrode;
a top electrode comprising titanium nitride over the high-k dielectric material; and
a continuous titanium oxide material between the high-k dielectric material and the top electrode.

22. The capacitor of claim 21 , wherein the continuous titanium oxide material comprises TiO 2 .

Assignees

• Micron Technology Inc

Inventors

• Song Zhe
• Sigman Jennifer K

Classifications

• H10P14/69395

  the material containing zirconium, e.g. ZrO2 · CPC title

• H10P14/6548

  by forming intermediate materials, e.g. capping layers or diffusion barriers · CPC title

• H10P14/6334

  using decomposition or reaction of gaseous or vapour phase compounds, i.e. chemical vapour deposition (deposition by physical ablation of a target H10P14/6329) · CPC title

• H10D1/696 Primary

  comprising multiple layers, e.g. comprising a barrier layer and a metal layer (barrier layers to prevent diffusion of hydrogen or oxygen in perovskite based capacitors H10D1/688) · CPC title

• H01L21/02189

  Electricity · mapped topic