Method of forming a semiconductor device by high-pressure anneal and post-anneal treatment

A method, comprising:

• forming a dielectric structure over a channel region of an active area, wherein the dielectric structure includes an interfacial layer over the active area and a conformal dielectric layer over the interfacial layer;
• annealing the dielectric structure at a first pressure to introduce hydrogen to an interface between the interfacial layer and the channel region;
• performing a post-anneal treatment on the dielectric structure at a second pressure to reduce hydrogen in the conformal dielectric layer, wherein the first pressure is higher than the second pressure;
• and
• after performing the post-anneal treatment, forming a gate electrode over the conformal dielectric layer.

A method, comprising:

• forming a first dielectric layer over a channel region of an active area of a substrate;
• forming a second dielectric layer over the first dielectric layer over the channel region of the active area;
• after forming the first dielectric layer and after forming the second dielectric layer, performing an anneal on the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer to introduce first atoms between the second dielectric layer and the active area, wherein the first atoms comprise hydrogen or deuterium;
• performing a post-anneal treatment to reduce the first atoms in the second dielectric layer, wherein the anneal is performed at a higher pressure than the post-anneal treatment;
• and
• after performing the post-anneal treatment, forming a gate electrode over the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer.