Growth and characterization of Peald deposited La2O3 on SiO2/Si

Abstract

In this study, we have deposited lanthanum oxide (La2O[Formula: see text] ultrathin films onto Si substrate with pre-deposited SiO2 (SiO2/Si substrate) by indigenously developed plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) system at a low RF power of 30[Formula: see text]W. An in-situ nitrogen plasma (N[Formula: see text] treatment was performed to minimize the defects at interface. Thickness of deposited La2O3 film is estimated to be of 2.1[Formula: see text]nm for 50 cycles as per the growth rate of 0.42A/cycle. The deposited La2O3/SiO2/Si stack underwent post-deposition annealing (PDA) at temperatures of 400∘C, 500∘C, and 600∘C. These films were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the La2O3 ultra thin films on SiO2/Si substrates are amorphous in nature. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) micrograph revealed minimal roughness.