# US 10,872,964 B2 · MIS contact structure with metal oxide conductor

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- Number: US 10,872,964 B2
- Document ID: US10872964B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/742,098
- Filed: 2020-01-14
- Published: 2020-05-14
- Granted: 2020-12-22
- Earliest claimed: 2016-06-17
- Assignees: Acorn Semi, LLC
- Applicants: Acorn Semi, LLC
- Inventors: Paul A. Clifton; Andreas Goebel
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10872964B2

## CPC

- H10D 64/667: {the conductor comprising a layer of alloy material, compound material or organic material contacting the insulator, e.g. TiN workfunction layers (having lateral variation H10D64/671)}
- H04L 67/10: in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46)
- H04L 67/51: Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
- H10D 30/0277: {forming conductor-insulator-semiconductor or Schottky barrier source or drain regions}
- H10D 62/165: {Tunnel injectors}
- H10D 62/60: Impurity distributions or concentrations
- H10D 64/01302: {the insulator being formed after the semiconductor body, the semiconductor being silicon}
- H10D 64/669: {the conductor further comprising additional layers of alloy material, compound material or organic material, e.g. TaN/TiAlN}
- H10D 64/691: {comprising metallic compounds, e.g. metal oxides or metal silicates (insulators comprising nitrogen H10D64/693)}
- H10D: INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

An electrical contact structure (an MIS contact) includes one or more conductors (M-Layer), a semiconductor (S-Layer), and an interfacial dielectric layer (I-Layer) of less than 4 nm thickness disposed between and in contact with both the M-Layer and the S-Layer. The I-Layer is an oxide of a metal or a semiconductor. The conductor of the M-Layer that is adjacent to and in direct contact with the I-Layer is a metal oxide that is electrically conductive, chemically stable and unreactive at its interface with the I-Layer at temperatures up to 450° C. The electrical contact structure has a specific contact resistivity of less than or equal to approximately 10−5-10−7 Ω-cm2 when the doping in the semiconductor adjacent the MIS contact is greater than approximately 2×1019 cm−3 and less than approximately 10−8 Ω-cm2 when the doping in the semiconductor adjacent the MIS contact is greater than approximately 1020 cm−3.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An electrical junction structure, comprising a conductor; a semiconductor layer; and an interfacial dielectric layer disposed between and in contact with both the conductor and the semiconductor layer, wherein the conductor is a conductive metal oxide and the interfacial dielectric layer comprises a metal oxide and modifies a Schottky barrier height of the electrical junction structure relative to a barrier height of the electrical junction structure that would occur in the absence of the interfacial dielectric layer.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The electrical junction structure of claim 1, wherein an interface between the conductor and the interfacial dielectric layer is a thermally stable interface up to a temperature of 450° C.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the interfacial dielectric layer has a thickness in the range 0.2 nm to 4 nm and comprises one of: WO3, TiO2, MgO, Al2O3, HfO2, ZrO2, Ta2O5, V2O5, BaZrO3, La2O3, Y2O3, HfSiO4, ZrSiO4, CoO, NiO, GaO, SrTiO3, (Ba,Sr)TiO3, ZnO, silicon oxide, and germanium oxide, or any of their doped or non-stochiometric variants.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the conductive metal oxide has a thickness in the range 0.5 nm to 3 nm and comprises one of: WO2, (Nb,Sr)TiO3, (Ba,Sr)TiO3, SrRuO3, MoO2, OsO2, RhO2, RuO2, IrO2, ReO3, ReO2, LaCuO3, Ti2O3, TiO, V2O3, VO, Fe3O4, ZnO, indium tin oxide (ITO), aluminum-doped zinc-oxide (AZO), InSnO, and CrO2, or any of their doped or non-stochiometric variants.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the semiconductor layer is a III-V compound semiconductor.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The electrical contact structure of claim 2, wherein the semiconductor layer is a semiconductor comprising one or several of the group IV elements silicon, germanium, carbon, tin, or carbon nanotubes.

### Claim 7 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the semiconductor layer is a doped n-type semiconductor.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The electrical junction structure of claim 7, wherein the interfacial dielectric layer is V2O5 with a thickness of between 0.2 nm and 3.0 nm, and the conductive metal oxide is conductive vanadium oxide with a composition intermediate between VO and VO2 and a thickness of between 0.5 nm and 5.0 nm.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The electrical junction structure of claim 7, wherein the interfacial dielectric layer is TiO2 with a thickness of between 0.2 nm and 3.0 nm, and the conductive metal oxide is conductive tungsten oxide with a thickness of between 0.5 nm and 5.0 nm.

### Claim 10 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the interfacial dielectric layer is less than 10 nm thick.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The electrical junction structure of claim 10, wherein the interfacial dielectric layer comprises a plurality of oxide layers, one of which is the metal oxide.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The electrical junction structure of claim 11, wherein the interfacial dielectric layer comprises at least one of: WO3, TiO2, MgO, Al2O3, HfO2, ZrO2, Ta2O5, V2O5, BaZrO3, La2O3, Y2O3, HfSiO4, ZrSiO4, CoO, NiO, GaO, SrTiO3, and (Ba,Sr)TiO3.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The electrical junction structure of claim 11, wherein the conductive metal oxide comprises at least one of: WO2, (Nb,Sr)TiO3, (Ba,Sr)TiO3, SrRuO3, MoO2, OsO2, RhO2, RuO2, IrO2, ReO3, ReO2, LaCuO3, Ti2O3, TiO, V203, VO, Fe3O4, ZnO, indium tin oxide (ITO), aluminum-doped zinc-oxide (AZO), InSnO, and CrO2.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The electrical junction structure of claim 11, wherein the semiconductor layer is a III-V compound semiconductor.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The electrical contact structure of claim 11, wherein the semiconductor layer is a semiconductor comprising one or several of the group IV elements silicon, germanium, carbon, or tin.

### Claim 16 (depends on 11)

The electrical junction structure of claim 11, wherein the semiconductor layer is a doped n-type semiconductor.

### Claim 17 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the conductor comprises a stack of metals including at least a first oxide of a first metal, and the metal oxide of the interfacial dielectric layer is a second oxide of the first metal different from the first oxide of the first metal.

### Claim 18 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the metal oxide of the interfacial dielectric layer comprises an oxide of a first metal and the conductive metal oxide conductor comprises an oxide of a second metal.

### Claim 19 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein interfacial dielectric layer comprises a plurality of oxides, one of which is the metal oxide and another of which comprises a material that would be an insulator or a semiconductor in its bulk state.

### Claim 20 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the interfacial dielectric layer comprises at least one of titanium silicate, TiSixOy, or titanium silicon oxynitride.

### Claim 21 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the interfacial dielectric layer comprises the metal oxide and an oxide of a semiconductor.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The electrical junction structure of claim 21, wherein the metal oxide comprises Al2O3, and the oxide of the semiconductor comprises an oxide of silicon.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The electrical junction of claim 22, wherein the semiconductor layer is a doped n-type semiconductor.

### Claim 24 (depends on 22)

The electrical junction of claim 22, wherein the semiconductor layer is a doped p-type semiconductor.

### Claim 25 (depends on 21)

The electrical junction structure of claim 21, wherein the metal oxide comprises TiO2, and the oxide of the semiconductor comprises an oxide of silicon.

### Claim 26 (depends on 25)

The electrical junction of claim 25, wherein the semiconductor layer is a doped n-type semiconductor.

### Claim 27 (depends on 25)

The electrical junction of claim 25, wherein the semiconductor layer is a doped p-type semiconductor.

### Claim 28 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the conductive metal oxide comprises an oxide of multiple different metals.

### Claim 29 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the conductive metal oxide comprises an oxide of iron.

### Claim 30 (depends on 2)

The electrical junction structure of claim 2, wherein the electrical junction includes an oxide of nickel.