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Improved Interface and Electrical Properties by Inserting an Ultrathin SiO2 Buffer Layer in the Al2O3/Si Heterojunction

An ultrathin SiO2 interfacial buffer layer is formed using the nitric acid oxidation of Si (NAOS) method to improve the interface and electrical properties of Al2O3/Si, and its effect on the leakage current and interfacial states is analyzed. The leakage current density of the Al2O3/Si sample (8.1 × 10−9 A cm−2) due to the formation of low‐density SiOx layer during the atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, decreases by approximately two orders of magnitude when SiO2 buffer layer is inserted using the NAOS method (1.1 × 10−11 A cm−2), and further decreases after post‐metallization annealing (PMA) (1.4 × 10−12 A cm−2). Based on these results, the influence of interfacial defect states is analyzed. The equilibrium density of defect sites (Nd) and fixed charge density (Nf) are both reduced after NAOS and then further decreased by PMA treatment. The interface state density (Dit) at 0.11 eV decreases about one order of magnitude from 2.5 × 1012 to 7.3 × 1011 atoms eV−1 cm−2 after NAOS, and to 3.0 × 1010 atoms eV−1 cm−2 after PMA. Consequently, it is demonstrated that the high defect density of the Al2O3/Si interface is drastically reduced by fabricating ultrathin high density SiO2 buffer layer, and the insulating properties are improved.