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6669647 
Journal Article 
Effect of hydrogen peroxide on hydrofluoric acid etching of high-k materials: ESR investigations 
Lowalekar, V; Raghavan, S; , 
2005 
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV 
AMSTERDAM 
1559-1564 
WOS:000229989300010 
Oxides and silicates of zirconium and hafnium are being actively considered for use as gate dielectrics in MOS devices. Because of their higher dielectric constant (k similar to 16-22), they permit the use of thicker layers without sacrificing the capacitance value. Wet chemical etching is the method of choice for patterning these oxides. The etching process has to be selective to zirconium/hafnium oxides over silicon dioxide, which may be present in other areas. In this paper, work done on HF etching of ZrO2 and HfO2 in presence of hydrogen peroxide is presented and discussed. It was found that addition of hydrogen peroxide to HF solutions lower the etch rate of ZrO2 and HfO2 films. Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy was used to probe the reasons for the decrease in etch rates in this solution. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 
Michael Weinberg Symposium 
Tucson, AZ