This study investigates how the forming gas (FG) annealing affects the chemical composition of solution-deposited aluminum oxide phosphate (AlPO) thin films, the interfacial interactions with silicon substrate, and its correlation with their electrical properties. It is demonstrated that using FG during the annealing process reduced the leakage current in up to three orders of magnitude in comparison with air, vacuum, nitrogen, or ammonia atmospheres in metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) devices annealed at 350 °C. FG annealing also reduced the capacitance hysteresis and dielectric constant. Results showed that FG annealing surprisingly enhanced the hydroxide-to-oxide transition in AlPO, promoting the dehydroxylation of the aluminum precursors, and limited the SiO<sub>2</sub> growth and its diffusion at the interface between AlPO and silicon substrate. Enhancing the dehydroxylation of solution deposited wide-bandgap oxides and improving their interface with substrates could allow their use as active layer in Fowler-Nordheim tunneling diodes.

Enhanced dehydroxylation and interface passivation of solution-processed dielectric metal oxide thin films using forming gas annealing

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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