In-situ Synchrotron Radiation Photoemission Spectroscopy Study of Properties Variation of Ta2O5 Film during the Atomic Layer Deposition

The variation of chemical and interfacial state during the growth of Ta2O5 films on the Si substrate by atomic layer deposition (ALD) was investigated using in-situ synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy. A newly synthesized liquid precursor Ta(NtBu)(dmamp)2Me was used as the metal precursor, with Ar as a purging gas and H2O as the oxidant source. The core-level spectra of Si 2p, Ta 4f, and O 1s revealed that Ta suboxide and Si dioxide were formed at the initial stages of Ta2O5 growth. However, the Ta suboxide states almost disappeared as the ALD cycles progressed. Consequently, the Ta5+ state, which corresponds with the stoichiometric Ta2O5, only appeared after 4.0 cycles. Additionally, tantalum silicate was not detected at the interfacial states between Ta2O5 and Si. The measured valence band offset value between Ta2O5 and the Si substrate was 3.08 eV after 2.5 cycles.