Abstract

 New high-k gate dielectrics are highly necessary in facilitating the continuous down-scaling of metal–oxide–semiconductor devices to the sub-10 nm range. This study presents ultrathin organic hydrocarbon (HC) films as a novel high-k gate insulator for metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) devices. During inductively-coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition with CH_​4 and H_​2 gases, the growth temperature greatly affects the structure of the carbon layers and consequently their dielectric characteristics. Specifically, sp^​2-rich dielectric HC layers are formed below 600 °C, whereas highly-ordered sp^​2-hybridized graphene is formed at 950 °C. The k value of the resulting HC films increases up to a maximum value of 90 at 350 °C. Moreover, the MIS devices exhibit excellent gate-insulating properties, including almost no hysteresis in the capacitance–voltage curve, low leakage current, and high dielectric strength, which surpass those of existing high-k gate oxides. These results reveal that the organic HC films are a promising next-generation high-k gate dielectric material for sub-10 nm node Si and organic semiconductor technologies.