Manipulation of stored charge in anodic aluminium oxide/SiO2 dielectric stacks by the use of pulsed anodisation

Abstract A method of fabricating anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) with the capability of manipulating its stored charge is reported. This method involves the use of a pulsed current source to anodise aluminium layers instead of the typically used constant current/voltage source, with the test structures experiencing positive and negative cycles periodically. By tuning the positive cycle percentage, it is demonstrated that the effective stored charge density can be manipulated in a range from −5.2 × 1011 to 2.5 × 1012 q/cm2 when the AAO is formed over a 12 nm SiO2 layer. An investigation of the stored charge distribution in the dielectric stacks indicates a positive fixed charge at the SiO2/Si interface, a negative fixed charge at the AAO/SiO2 interface and a positive bulk charge within the AAO layer. The effective stored charge density and interface states were found to be affected by annealing conditions and it is suggested that oxygen annealing can reduce the bulk positive charge while post-metallisation anneal is most effective in reducing silicon interface defects. Charge manipulation using pulsed anodisation is shown to reduce carrier recombination on boron-diffused silicon surfaces highlighting the potential of the process to be used to tune the electrical properties of dielectric layers so that they can reduce surface recombination on silicon surfaces having different dopant polarity and concentrations.