Insight into unusual impurity absorbability of GeO(2) in GeO(2)∕Ge stacks.

Adsorbed species and its diffusion behaviors in GeO(2)∕Ge stacks, which are future alternative metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) materials, have been investigated using various physical analyses. We clarified that GeO(2) rapidly absorbs moisture in air just after its exposure. After the absorbed moisture in GeO(2) reaches a certain limit, the GeO(2) starts to absorb some organic molecules, which is accompanied by a structural change in GeO(2) to form a partial carbonate or hydroxide. We also found that the hydrogen distribution in GeO(2) shows intrinsic characteristics, indicative of different diffusion behaviors at the surface and at the GeO(2)∕Ge interface. Because the impurity absorbability of GeO(2) has a great influence on the electrical properties in Ge-MOS devices, these results provide valuable information in realizing high quality GeO(2)∕Ge stacks for the actual use of Ge-MOS technologies.