A study was made of extrinsic stacking fault generation at the Si surface of samples with HfAlxOy and HfO2 high–k dielectrics grown by MOCVD at 500 and 350C, respectively. As opposed to a recent assertion ascribing the formation of dislocations in a HfSixOy–Si system prepared by ALD at 300C to diffusion of Hf atoms during film growth into the Si substrate, it was found that no such evidence for samples whose Si substrate was ALD–covered with HfO2 and HfSixOy dielectrics at a comparable temperature to the above ALD and MOCVD cases.

Extrinsic Stacking Fault Generation Related to High–k Dielectric Growth on a Si Substrate. S.N.Volkos, S.Bernardini, N.Rigopoulos, E.S.Efthymiou, I.D.Hawkins, B.Hamilton, L.Dobaczewski, S.Hall, P.K.Hurley, A.Delabie, A.R.Peaker: Microelectronic Engineering, 2007, 84[9-10], 2374-7