Al₂O₃ films 1.5nm to 20nm thick were deposited as alternative high k gate dielectric on hydrogen-terminated silicon by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technique and characterized by Synchrotron X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (SXPS), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) absorption spectroscopy and admittance measurements. The SXPS results indicate that about 60% of Si-H bonds are preserved at the Al₂O₃/Si interface and this is confirmed by monitoring the Si-H stretching modes by FTIR spectroscopy in the Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) mode both before and after ALD of Al₂O₃. The remaining 40% of Si-H bonds are replaced by Si-O bonds as verified by SXPS. In addition, a fraction of a monolayer of SiO₂ formed on top of the Al₂O₃ dielectric during deposition. The presence of OH groups at a level of 3% of the total oxygen content was detected throughout the Al₂O₃ layer through a chemically shifted O1s component in SXPS. Admittance measurements give a satisfactorily high dielectric constant of 9.12, but a relatively high density of interface traps between 10¹¹ and 10¹²cm^-2eV^-1.

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