La Torraca, P;
Padovani, A;
Strand, J;
Shluger, A;
Larcher, L;
(2024)
The Role of Carrier Injection in the Breakdown Mechanism of Amorphous Al2O3 Layers.
IEEE Electron Device Letters
, 45
(2)
pp. 236-239.
10.1109/LED.2023.3337882.
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Abstract
We investigated the dielectric breakdown (BD) mechanism in amorphous alumina (a-Al2O3) metal-insulator-metal (MIM) stacks. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that oxygen vacancy ( VO) generation in a-Al2O3 occurs via thermochemical (TC) bond-breaking and, more efficiently, via newly discovered pathways enabled by charge trapping in under-coordinated Al ions (UC Als ) and in existing VOs . Multiscale simulations show the importance of these processes, which allow explaining the experimental BD dynamics in a-Al2O3, and provide valuable insights into the role of carriers’ injection in the degradation and reliability of high-k materials.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Role of Carrier Injection in the Breakdown Mechanism of Amorphous Al2O3 Layers |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1109/LED.2023.3337882 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/led.2023.3337882 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Amorphous alumina, atomic defects, breakdown, carrierinjection, high-k dielectric |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10188801 |
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