GB2064219A - A method of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor substrate - Google Patents

A method of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor substrate Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2064219A
GB2064219A GB8037987A GB8037987A GB2064219A GB 2064219 A GB2064219 A GB 2064219A GB 8037987 A GB8037987 A GB 8037987A GB 8037987 A GB8037987 A GB 8037987A GB 2064219 A GB2064219 A GB 2064219A
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Prior art keywords
aluminum
gaas
insulating film
anodic oxidation
substrate
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GB8037987A
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GB2064219B (en
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Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd
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Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd
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    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02104Forming layers
    • H01L21/02107Forming insulating materials on a substrate
    • H01L21/02225Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer
    • H01L21/02227Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a process other than a deposition process
    • H01L21/0223Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a process other than a deposition process formation by oxidation, e.g. oxidation of the substrate
    • H01L21/02244Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a process other than a deposition process formation by oxidation, e.g. oxidation of the substrate of a metallic layer
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02104Forming layers
    • H01L21/02107Forming insulating materials on a substrate
    • H01L21/02225Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer
    • H01L21/02227Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a process other than a deposition process
    • H01L21/02258Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a process other than a deposition process formation by anodic treatment, e.g. anodic oxidation
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/28Manufacture of electrodes on semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/268
    • H01L21/28008Making conductor-insulator-semiconductor electrodes
    • H01L21/28264Making conductor-insulator-semiconductor electrodes the insulator being formed after the semiconductor body, the semiconductor being a III-V compound
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02104Forming layers
    • H01L21/02107Forming insulating materials on a substrate
    • H01L21/02109Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the type of layer, e.g. type of material, porous/non-porous, pre-cursors, mixtures or laminates
    • H01L21/02112Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the type of layer, e.g. type of material, porous/non-porous, pre-cursors, mixtures or laminates characterised by the material of the layer
    • H01L21/02172Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the type of layer, e.g. type of material, porous/non-porous, pre-cursors, mixtures or laminates characterised by the material of the layer the material containing at least one metal element, e.g. metal oxides, metal nitrides, metal oxynitrides or metal carbides
    • H01L21/02175Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the type of layer, e.g. type of material, porous/non-porous, pre-cursors, mixtures or laminates characterised by the material of the layer the material containing at least one metal element, e.g. metal oxides, metal nitrides, metal oxynitrides or metal carbides characterised by the metal
    • H01L21/02178Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the type of layer, e.g. type of material, porous/non-porous, pre-cursors, mixtures or laminates characterised by the material of the layer the material containing at least one metal element, e.g. metal oxides, metal nitrides, metal oxynitrides or metal carbides characterised by the metal the material containing aluminium, e.g. Al2O3

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Formation Of Insulating Films (AREA)

Abstract

A method of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor substrate comprises depositing aluminum on a GaAs substrate by vacuum evaporation, subjecting the substrate to anodic oxidation until the aluminum is fully oxidized, and heat treating the substrate carrying the oxidized aluminum.

Description

SPECIFICATION A method of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor substrate This invention relates to a method of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor substrate.
The passivation of the surface of a GaAs substrate by forming an insulating film thereon is of great importance in the formation of a gate insulator of an MOS-type field effect transistor and in the protection of the surfaces of various kinds of electronic devices and light emitting and receiving devices. Various methods have recently been proposed for forming such insulating films. These methods are roughly classified into a method of oxidizing the surface of the GaAs directly and a method of forming a separate insulating film on the substrate. The former method includes, for example, thermal oxidation, anodic oxidation in an electrolyte, and plasma oxidation as described in D.N. Butcher and B.J. Sealy, Electron Lett., 13, p.
558 (1977); H. Hasegawa, et al., April. Phys. Lett, 26, p.567 (1975); R.A. Logan et al., J.
Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 120, p.1385 (1973); A.G.
Revesz and K.H. Zaininger, J. Amer. Ceram. Soc., 46, p. 606 (1963); O.A. Weinreich, J. Appl. Phys., 37, p. 2924 (1966); T. Sugano and Y. Mori, J.
Electrochem. Soc., 121, p. 113 (1974); K.
Yamasaki and T. Sugano, Japan J. Appl. Phys., 17, p. 321 (1978); F. Koshiga and T. Sugano, Thin Solid Films,56, p.39 (1979); N. Yokoyama, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 32, p. 58 (1978); L.A. Chesler and G.Y. Robinson, "dc plasma anodization of GaAs", Appl. Phys. Lett., 32, p. 60 (1978); R.P.H.
Chang and A.K. Sinha, Appl. Phys. Lett., 29, p. 56 (1976); while latter method includes, for example, CVD, sputtering, vacuum deposition, molecular beam deposition, and glow discharge as described in H.W. Becke and J.P. White, Electronics, p. 82 (1967); H.W. Becke, et al., Solid State Electron, 8, p.813(1965); L. Messick, Solid State Electron, 22, p.71(1979); K. Kamimura and Y. Sakai, Thin Solid Films,56, p. 215 (1979); B. Bayraktaroglu, 37th Device Research Conf. Abstract PWP-A3, (1979); H.C. Casey, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 32, p.
678 (1978); W.T. Tsang, Appl. Phys. Lett., 33, p.
429. Examples of the insulating material include SiO, SiO2,Si3N4, SiO2/Si3N4, SiN, SIMON, Al2O3, SiO2/AI203, PSG, GaN, and Ta205.
One of the most important properties required for these kinds of insulating films is a sufficiently low interface state density at the interface between the insulating film and the semiconductor. This is particularly important for a gate insulator of an MOS field-effect transistor, because the mutual conductance is disadvantageously reduced if the interface state density is too high. If the interface state density is extremely high, an inversion-type MOS field-effect transistor fails to perform its function, since no surface inversion takes place.
The aforementioned method of forming insulating films according to the prior art result in the existence of high interface state density between the insulating film and the semiconductor. A diode prepared by any method known in the art has capacitance-voltage characteristics such that it has high hysteresis and has a small maximum gradient of capacitance variation, which is itself small, indicating clearly that the diode's interface state density is high. It is known that if the interface state density is sufficiently low, inversion will occur and thus the capacitance of the MOS diode will approach the level of the capacitance of the insulator at frequencies that are low enough for minority carriers to respond. However, none of the MOS diodes prepared by methods known in the art have such an increase in capacitance, i.e., no inversion takes place in any such diodes.
Thus, all known methods of forming an insulating film have been unable to provide a sufficiently low interface state density between the insulating film and the semiconductor, and all are difficult to apply to the practical manufacture of electronic devices and the like.
In one aspect, the present invention resides in a method of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor substrate by depositing aluminum on a GaAs substrate by vacuum evaporation and then subjecting the substrate to anodic oxidation until the aluminum is fully oxidized.
By utilizing the method of this invention, the interface state density can be decreased to a very low value, as will be understood from the fact that characteristics indicating inversion are obtained.
The method of this invention is extremely advantageous when it is industrially applied in forming a gate insulator of an MOS field-effect transistor or for forming a surface protective film for a variety of other electronic devices.
In a further aspect, the invention resides in an MOS field-effect transistor comprising a GaAs substrate having vacuum deposited on the surface thereof a layer of aluminum which has been subsequently fully oxidized by anodic oxidation and heat treated, and an aluminum electrode.
According to this invention, a film of aluminum having a desired thickness is deposited by vacuum evaporation on the surface of a GaAs substrate or semiconductor layer which has been appropriately surface treated. The thickness of the aluminum film can be determined depending on the design (threshold voltage) of the circuit to be contemplated and usually is about 100 to 3,000 A. In order to form an insulator, the aluminium is then converted to an oxide by a method such as, anodic oxidation in an electrolyte. It is important in this connection to ensure that anedic oxidation extends exactly to the interface between GaAs and aluminum, so that the aluminum is completely anodized and the GaAs is not.It is generally known that if the conditions for anodic oxidation, e.g., anodization current density and type of electrolyte, remain the same, the thickness of the aluminum oxide film is proportional to the anode voltage and that, therefore, it is possible to control the thickness of the oxide film by varying the anode voltage. This principle can be utilized to control the extent of anodic oxidation so that it stops at the interface. Finally, the GaAs and aluminum oxide are heat treated. In this way, an MOS diode having a very low interface state density can be obtained.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a graph showing the capacitancevoltage characteristics of GaAs MOS diodes prepared by a method according to one example of this invention, and Figures 2 and 3 are each graphs showing the capacitance-voltage characteristics of GaAs MOS diodes prepared by stopping anodic oxidation at different voltages from those employed for the preparation of the diodes of said one example.
Referring to Figure 1, in the method of said one example a GaAs substrate comprising p-type GaAs having a carrier concentration of 6.6 x 1017cm3 was degreased using customary techniques and had its surface treated by etching.
A film of aluminum having a thickness of 800 A was then deposited on the substrate surface by vacuum evaporation. Thereafter, the aluminum film was anodized in a mixed solution of tartaric acid, ethylene glycol, and water, whereby the aluminum was converted into aluminum oxide to form an insulator. Anodization was stopped at 125 V to ensure that only the aluminum would be anodized. The anodic oxidation was conducted with a current density of 3 mA/cm2 by usin#g a constant current source.
The substrate on which the aluminum oxide had been formed was then heat treated at 4000C for 30 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere. It was found that, although the desired heat treating temperature depended on the heat treating time, heat treatment at temperatures lower than 3000C for 30 minutes resulted in an interface state density so high that no inversion could take place.
It was also found that if the heat treatment was conducted at a temperature higher than 500 C, the insulating film had a low dielectric breakdown voltage. Thus, the practically desirable range of heat treating temperatures is from about 3000C to about 5000 C.
Aluminum was deposited on the aluminum oxide through a metal mask, to form an electrode, and a film of AuGeNi was deposited on the rear surface of the substrate, whereby an MOS diode was prepared. Its capacitance-voltage characteristics were measured and, the results are shown in Figure 1, in which the axis of abscissa indicates the applied voltage, while the axis of ordinate denotes the capacitance. As shown in the graph of Figure 1, the capacitance-voltage characteristics of the MOS diode prepared according to said one example had low hysteresis at each frequency tested (i.e., 5 Hz, 50 Hz, 500 Hz, 5 KHz, and 50 KHz in Figure 1) and large variations in capacitance with applied voltage, thereby suggesting an extremely low interface state density.Moreover, the capacitance of the MOS diode approached the level of the capacitance of the insulator at low frequencies upon application of voltage in the forward direction. This clearly indicates the occurrence of inversion.
Figures 2 and 3 show the capacitance-voltage characteristics of MOS diodes prepared under the same conditions as hereinabove described, except that anodic oxidation was terminated at an anode voltage of 85 V and 150 V, respectively. Figure 2 shows no substantial variation in capacitance, because the anodization voltage was so low, 85 V, that it failed to oxidize the aluminum fully, and thus metallic aluminum remained sandwiched between the insulating film and the semiconductor. Therefore, MOS diodes having the characteristics shown in Figure 2 are useless as field-effect transistors or the like. Figure 3 shows no increase of capacitance at any low frequency and, hence, no characteristics suggesting inversion, because of the excessive anodic oxidation of the GaAs caused by the too high anodization voltage.
As is obvious from the foregoing, the timing for termination of anodic oxidation is of great importance according to this invention. It is possible to obtain an insulating film having a low interface state density only when anodic oxidation is conducted exactly to the point where all the aluminum is fully oxidized. However, experiments have confirmed that even if the GaAs is somewhat oxidized, it is possible to obtain an insulating film having a sufficiently low interface state density to permit occurrence of inversion, provided that the anodization is stopped at a voltage not more than 1.1 times higher than the voltage at which all the aluminum is fully oxidized. The completion of oxidation of the aluminum film is easily determined.As aluminum and GaAs have different rates of anodic oxidation, by plotting the anodization voltage in relation to time using a recorder a sudden change occurs upon completion of full oxidation of the aluminum. Accordingly, it is easy to detect the point of time when the aluminum is fully oxidized.
The completion of full oxidation of aluminum can also be detected optically. As aluminum and GaAs have different degrees of surface reflectivity, no interference color is visible if any unoxidized aluminum remains under the oxide film, while an interference color is visible if GaAs is exposed directly beneath the oxide film. Thus, it follows that the full oxidation has been completed when such an interference color has become visible.
Therefore, it is unexpectedly easy to control anodic oxidation for terminating it properly.
According to this invention, it is important to ensure that the aluminum deposited on the GaAs is anodized fully to its interface with the GaAs.
Thus, the method of this invention can be equally effected by any other anodizing method, such as anodic oxidation in a plasma of oxygen, provided anodization is stopped at the interface.

Claims (10)

1. A method of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor substrate, comprising: a) depositing aluminum on a GaAs substrate by vacuum evaporation: b) subjecting said aluminum to anodic oxidation until said aluminum is fully oxidized; and c) heat treating said substrate carrying said oxidized aluminum.
2. A method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said heat treating is conducted at a temperature of about 3000C to about 5000C in a nitrogen atmosphere.
3. A method as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said temperature is about 4000C.
4. A method as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein said aluminum deposited on GaAs has a film thickness of 800 A.
5. A method as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein said anodic oxidation is conducted in a mixed solution of tartaric acid, ethylene glycol, and water.
6. A method as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein said anodic oxidation is conducted until an anodization voltage of 125 V is reached and at a current density of 3 mA/cm2.
7. A method as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein said aluminum is oxidized without substantially oxidizing said GaAs.
8. A method as claimed in Claim 1, of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor substrate substantially as hereinbefore described.
9. A semiconductor device including a semiconductor substrate having an insulating film formed thereon by a method as claimed in any preceding Claim.
10. An MOS field-effect transistor comprising a GaAs substrate having vacuum deposited on the surface thereof a layer of aluminum which has been subsequently fully oxidized by anodic oxidation and heat treated, and an aluminum electrode.
GB8037987A 1979-11-28 1980-11-27 Method of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor substrate Expired GB2064219B (en)

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JP15403979A JPS5676539A (en) 1979-11-28 1979-11-28 Formation of insulating film on semiconductor substrate

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GB2064219A true GB2064219A (en) 1981-06-10
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US3681147A (en) * 1970-01-22 1972-08-01 Ibm Method for masking semiconductor regions for ion implantation
DE2932569C2 (en) * 1979-08-10 1983-04-07 Siemens Ag, 1000 Berlin Und 8000 Muenchen Method for reducing the density of the rapid surface states in MOS devices

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JPS6311773B2 (en) 1988-03-16
DE3044961A1 (en) 1981-09-17
JPS5676539A (en) 1981-06-24
GB2064219B (en) 1984-02-15
FR2471047A1 (en) 1981-06-12
FR2471047B1 (en) 1985-10-25

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Effective date: 19961127