Patent ID: 6806145
Filing Date: 2004-10-19
Classification: H01L

Abstract:
A process for forming a gate dielectric on a semiconductor substrate, the method comprising:growing an interfacial dielectric oxynitride layer from the substrate by thermal oxidation; and depositing a high-k layer over the interfacial dielectric layer by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process under conditions such that the thickness of the interfacial dielectric layer increases by less than about 15 Ã¥ while depositing the high-k layer, wherein the ALD process comprises a plurality of cycles, each cycle comprising: contacting a substrate in a reaction chamber with a first reactant; removing the unreacted first reactant from the reaction chamber; contacting the substrate with water vapor; and removing the unreacted water vapor from the reaction chamber, and wherein water vapor is the only oxygen source used during deposition of the high-k layer.