Nitrogen treatment to improve high-k gate dielectrics

Abstract

A MOSFET having a nitrided gate dielectric and its manufacture are disclosed. The method comprises providing a substrate and depositing a non-high-k dielectric material on the substrate. The non-high-k dielectric comprises two layers. The first layer adjacent the substrate is essentially nitrogen-free, and the second layer includes between about 1015 atoms/cm3 to about 1022 atoms/cm3 nitrogen. The MOSFET further includes a high-k dielectric material on the nitrided, non-high-k dielectric. The high-k dielectric preferably includes HfSiON, ZrSiON, or nitrided Al2O3. Embodiments further include asymmetric manufacturing techniques wherein core and peripheral integrated circuit areas are separately optimized.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.