Atomic layer deposition of nanolaminate oxide films on Si

Among the methods for depositing thin films, atomic layer deposition is unique for its capability of growing conformal thin films of compounds with a control of composition and thickness at the atomic level. The conformal growth of thin films can be of particular interest for covering nanostructures since it assures the homogeneous growth of the ALD film in all directions, independent of the position of the sample with respect to the incoming precursor flow. Here we describe the technique for growing the HfO2/Al2O3 bilayer on Si substrate and our in situ approach for its investigation by means of synchrotron radiation photoemission. In particular, we study the interface interactions between the two oxides for various thickness compositions ranging from 0.4 to 2.7 nm. We find that the ALD of HfO2 on Si induces the increase of the interfacial SiO2 layer, and a change in the band bending of Si. On the contrary, the ALD of Al2O3 on HfO2 shows negligible interaction between layers as the binding energies of Hf4f, Si2p, and O1s core level peaks and the valence band maximum of HfO2 do not change and the interfacial SiO2 does not increase.