Electrical characteristics of polycrystalline Si layers embedded into high-k Al2O3 gate layers

The electrical characteristics of polycrystalline Si (poly Si) layers embedded into high-k Al₂O₃ (alumina) gate layers are investigated in this work. The capacitance versus voltage (C-V) curves obtained from the metal-alumina-polysilicon-alumina-silicon (MASAS) capacitors exhibit significant threshold voltage shifts, and the width of their hysteresis window is dependent on the range of the voltage sweep. The counterclockwise hysteresis observed in the C-V curves indicates that electrons originating from the p-type Si substrate in the inversion condition are trapped in the floating gate layer consisting of the poly Si layer present between the top and bottom Al₂O₃ layers in the MASAS capacitor. Also, current versus voltage (I-V) measurements are performed to examine the electrical characteristics of the fabricated capacitors. The I-V measurements reveal that our MASAS capacitors show a very low leakage current density, compared to the previously reported results.