Analysis of interface workfunction and process-induced damage of reactive-plasma-deposited ITO/SiO2/Si stack

Workfunction of reactive-plasma deposited indium-tin-oxide (RPD-ITO) at the ITO/SiO2 interface, which is referred as interface workfunction, and the process-induced damage are experimentally extracted for the first time based on capacitance-voltage (C-V) analysis. The estimated interface workfunction value of 4.74 eV for as-deposition condition is about 0.4 eV higher than that in the bulk determined by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). The RPD process induces the damage at the Si/SiO2 interface, and the degree of the damage is evaluated as the interface defect density (Dit) to be around 1012 cm-2eV-1. The effects of forming-gas annealing on the interface workfunction and recovery of the damage are also studied. The interface workfunction value once decreases to 4.53 eV by the annealing up to 250 oC and then turns to increase to 4.77 eV after 400 oC annealing. The damage is annihilated by the low-temperature forming-gas annealing at 200 oC.