Contact stacks to reduce hydrogen in semiconductor devices

Abstract

Embodiments herein describe techniques for an integrated circuit that includes a substrate, a semiconductor device on the substrate, and a contact stack above the substrate and coupled to the semiconductor device. The contact stack includes a contact metal layer, and a semiconducting oxide layer adjacent to the contact metal layer. The semiconducting oxide layer includes a semiconducting oxide material, while the contact metal layer includes a metal with a sufficient Schottky-barrier height to induce an interfacial electric field between the semiconducting oxide layer and the contact metal layer to reject interstitial hydrogen from entering the semiconductor device through the contact stack. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.