Abstract
An interfacial self-cleaning phenomenon was found in the atomic layer deposition of Hf O2 on In0.15 Ga0.85 AsGaAs substrate using Hf (NC H3 C2 H5) 4, i.e., TEMAH, and H2 O as the precursors. The native oxides of InGaAs were all satisfactorily removed from the interface through ligand exchange (substitution) reactions with the TEMAH precursor. It relieves the Fermi-level pinning in the Hf O2 InGaAs heterostructure, as verified by the clear transition from accumulation to depletion in high-frequency capacitance-voltage relations and inversion in quasistatic measurement. A very low leakage current was also found from the metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors of AuTiHf O2 InGaAs. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.