Nitrogen doping and thermal stability in HfSiOxNy studied by photoemission and x-ray absorption spectroscopy

We have investigated nitrogen-doping effects into HfSiO{sub x} films on Si and their thermal stability using synchrotron-radiation photoemission and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. N 1s core-level photoemission and N K-edge absorption spectra have revealed that chemical-bonding states of N-Si{sub 3-x}O{sub x} and interstitial N{sub 2}-gas-like features are clearly observed in as-grown HfSiO{sub x}N{sub y} film and they decrease upon ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) annealing due to a thermal instability, which can be related to the device performance. Annealing-temperature dependence in Hf 4f and Si 2p photoemission spectra suggests that the Hf-silicidation temperature is effectively increased by nitrogen doping into the HfSiO{sub x} although the interfacial SiO{sub 2} layer is selectively reduced. No change in valence-band spectra upon UHV annealing suggests that crystallization of the HfSiO{sub x}N{sub y} films is also hindered by nitrogen doping into the HfSiO{sub x}.