With the shrink of the critical dimensions of the future generation semiconductor devices, new materials such as having high dielectric constant oxides are introduced. In CMOS architectures, high-k dielectrics are required to replace SiO₂ which reaches its physical limits, having typically a SiO₂ equivalent thickness of about 1nm. Similarly, high-k dielectrics are required in Metal-Insulator-Metal architectures for DRAM applications. Various metal compositions have been considered to fulfill both the materials requirements (k, leakage current, crystallization temperature, charge trapping) and the integration requirements (thermal stability on interface, dry etching feasibility…).

Hafnium based oxides are among the most promising candidates. The main industrial options to enable the deposition of such thin films with reasonable throughput and acceptable purity are vapor phase deposition techniques, such as MOCVD (Metal-organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) or ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) which required adapted metal-organic precursors.