Suppression of the redox reaction between the IGZO surface and the reducing agent TMA using fluorine oxidizing agent treatment

Yuseong Jang; Jinkyu Lee; Jinsung Mok; Junhyeong Park; Seung Yoon Shin; Soo-Yeon Lee

doi:10.1039/d3ra06768h

Suppression of the redox reaction between the IGZO surface and the reducing agent TMA using fluorine oxidizing agent treatment

RSC Adv. 2023 Nov 13;13(47):33269-33275. doi: 10.1039/d3ra06768h. eCollection 2023 Nov 7.

Authors

Yuseong Jang¹, Jinkyu Lee¹, Jinsung Mok¹, Junhyeong Park¹, Seung Yoon Shin¹, Soo-Yeon Lee¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Inter-University Semiconductor Research Center, Seoul National University 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu Seoul 08826 Republic of Korea sooyeon.lee@snu.ac.kr.

Abstract

We propose that the post-deposition oxidation of the IGZO surface is essential for improving the interface quality, with Al₂O₃ prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) employing a common metal precursor trimethylaluminum (TMA). Here, the ALD-Al₂O₃ process was conducted using H₂O as an oxidant at a substrate temperature of 150 °C after IGZO deposition. The depth-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) data reveal the defect-rich and poor interface of the standard Al₂O₃/IGZO stack due to the redox reaction between the IGZO surface and TMA. The anion character of the IGZO was modified by introducing fluorine, which is known as a stability enhancer for oxide semiconductors. We highlight that the presence of the fluorine also improves the interface quality with ALD-Al₂O₃. As a consequence of the fluorine incorporation prior to the ALD-Al₂O₃ process, the chemical reduction reaction of the IGZO surface was effectively alleviated, resulting in a defect-passivated and sharp interface owing to the strong oxidizing nature of the fluorine.