ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the structural characterisation of 100 and 1000 cycles Ah0 3 films deposited by atomic layer deposition and subsequently in- and ex-situ annealed. The difference of crystallization temperature observed between the ex-situ and in-situ annealed might be related to a Jess accurate control of the temperature of the sample in the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) holder or/and might be real and indicate that the annealing conditions, that is, vacuum versus gas mixture and thin specimen versus bulk wafer, have an important influence. The thermal stability of amorphous Al2O3 films deposited by atomic layer deposition on Hartree Fock-last and thin SiO2 covered Si substrates is studied by TEM. The silicon oxide dielectric gate used in the CMOS devices is so thin that it has to be replaced by other materials having higher dielectric constant in order to minimize the gate leakage current and to pursue the device miniaturization.
