Gate Dielectric Engineering with an Ultrathin Silicon-oxide Interfacial Dipole Layer for Low-Leakage Oxide-Semiconductor Memories

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Athena, Fabia F., Hartanto, Jonathan, Passlack, Matthias, Evans, Jack C., Qin, Jimmy, Dede, Didem, Jana, Koustav, Liu, Shuhan, Peña, Tara, Pop, Eric, Pitner, Greg, Radu, Iuliana P., McIntyre, Paul C., Wong, H. -S. Philip
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Athena, Fabia F.
Hartanto, Jonathan
Passlack, Matthias
Evans, Jack C.
Qin, Jimmy
Dede, Didem
Jana, Koustav
Liu, Shuhan
Peña, Tara
Pop, Eric
Pitner, Greg
Radu, Iuliana P.
McIntyre, Paul C.
Wong, H. -S. Philip
author_facet Athena, Fabia F.
Hartanto, Jonathan
Passlack, Matthias
Evans, Jack C.
Qin, Jimmy
Dede, Didem
Jana, Koustav
Liu, Shuhan
Peña, Tara
Pop, Eric
Pitner, Greg
Radu, Iuliana P.
McIntyre, Paul C.
Wong, H. -S. Philip
contents We demonstrate a gate dielectric engineering approach leveraging an ultrathin, atomic layer deposited (ALD) silicon oxide interfacial layer (SiL) between the amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS) channel and the high-k gate dielectric. SiL positively shifts the threshold voltage (V$_T$) of AOS transistors, providing at least four distinct $V_T$ levels with a maximum increase of 500 mV. It achieves stable $V_T$ control without significantly degrading critical device parameters such as mobility, on-state current, all while keeping the process temperature below 225 $^{\circ}$C and requiring no additional heat treatment to activate the dipole. Positive-bias temperature instability tests at 85 $^{\circ}$C indicate a significant reduction in negative $V_{T}$ shifts for SiL-integrated devices, highlighting enhanced reliability. Incorporating this SiL gate stack into two-transistor gain-cell (GC) memory maintains a more stable storage node voltage ($V_{SN}$) (reduces $V_{SN}$ drop by 67\%), by limiting unwanted charge losses. SiL-engineered GCs also reach retention times up to 10,000 s at room temperature and reduce standby leakage current by three orders of magnitude relative to baseline device, substantially lowering refresh energy consumption.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_00786
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Gate Dielectric Engineering with an Ultrathin Silicon-oxide Interfacial Dipole Layer for Low-Leakage Oxide-Semiconductor Memories
Athena, Fabia F.
Hartanto, Jonathan
Passlack, Matthias
Evans, Jack C.
Qin, Jimmy
Dede, Didem
Jana, Koustav
Liu, Shuhan
Peña, Tara
Pop, Eric
Pitner, Greg
Radu, Iuliana P.
McIntyre, Paul C.
Wong, H. -S. Philip
Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Applied Physics
We demonstrate a gate dielectric engineering approach leveraging an ultrathin, atomic layer deposited (ALD) silicon oxide interfacial layer (SiL) between the amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS) channel and the high-k gate dielectric. SiL positively shifts the threshold voltage (V$_T$) of AOS transistors, providing at least four distinct $V_T$ levels with a maximum increase of 500 mV. It achieves stable $V_T$ control without significantly degrading critical device parameters such as mobility, on-state current, all while keeping the process temperature below 225 $^{\circ}$C and requiring no additional heat treatment to activate the dipole. Positive-bias temperature instability tests at 85 $^{\circ}$C indicate a significant reduction in negative $V_{T}$ shifts for SiL-integrated devices, highlighting enhanced reliability. Incorporating this SiL gate stack into two-transistor gain-cell (GC) memory maintains a more stable storage node voltage ($V_{SN}$) (reduces $V_{SN}$ drop by 67\%), by limiting unwanted charge losses. SiL-engineered GCs also reach retention times up to 10,000 s at room temperature and reduce standby leakage current by three orders of magnitude relative to baseline device, substantially lowering refresh energy consumption.
title Gate Dielectric Engineering with an Ultrathin Silicon-oxide Interfacial Dipole Layer for Low-Leakage Oxide-Semiconductor Memories
topic Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.00786