Surface Passivation of Germanium Using NH3 Ambient in RTP for High Mobility MOS Structure

Ge CMOS is very striking for the post Si-CMOS technology. However, we have to attempt a number of challenges with regard to materials and their interface control. In this paper we have investigated the control of the interfacial properties of SiO2 / Ge gate stack structures by the thermal nitridation technique. Structural and electrical properties of SiO2 gate-dielectric metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors deposited by sputtering on germanium are studied. The structural characterization confirmed that the thin film was free of physical defects and smooth surface of the films after PDA at 500 °C in N2 ambient. The smooth surface SiO2 thin films were used for Pt / SiO2 / GeON / Ge MOS structures fabrication. The MOS structure yields a low leakage current density of 9.16 × 10 – 6A cm – 2 at 1 V.