The time-zero dielectric breakdown (TZDB) tests are investigated, and the current–voltage (I-V) characteristics are discussed. It is found that stacking structure owns a higher breakdown field, which would lead to

lower resistance after breakdown. Then, in order to corroborate the results, samples with different IL thicknesses are manufactured and investigated. The stacking structures still own a higher breakdown field. Nevertheless, with the decreasing thickness of IL, higher density of interfacial states and lower breakdown field are observed. The mechanism for the CBL0137 clinical trial observation is proposed, and HRTEM is given in this work. Methods Two different MOS capacitors studied in the first experiment denoted by SH/O and H/O (S stands for stacking structure, H stands for HfO2, and O stands for SiO2) were manufactured on the substrate of p-type (100) Si wafer with a resistivity of 1 ~ 10 Ω cm. The wafers were undergone the process of standard Radio Corporation of America (RCA) cleaning in order to remove impurities. Then, SiO2 as ultrathin IL was grown onto the wafers using the technique of anodization (ANO) after removing native oxides XAV-939 concentration by HF. The oxidation method of ANO could be carried out in room temperature and could provide a promising option for the preparation of low-temperature IL [32, 33]. It was reported that the anodic oxide grown in room

temperature has few pinholes

and owns a good dielectric quality [34, 35]. The samples after anodization were followed by 950°C annealing in N2 for 15 s. Then, sample H/O was undergone the deposition of Hf onto a wafer by sputtering with the power of 60 W for 210 s, followed by NAO process to form HfO2 dielectric. Then, postoxidation annealing (POA) was carried out in a furnace at 380°C for 10 min in order to improve the quality of dielectric layer. The combined procedures from the deposition of Hf to the following annealing are defined as one cycle. Under the circumstance, the sample SH/O would undergo the sputtering time of 90 s as the first cycle PLEKHM2 and that of 60 s as other two cycles. Then, 250-nm aluminum metal was evaporated onto the top of all samples. The process of photolithography was carried out to pattern the devices with square area of 2.25 × 104 μm2. Finally, the back contact was formed by the evaporation of 250-nm aluminum. In order to corroborate our investigation, another two different MOS capacitors with various IL thicknesses denoted by SH/Ox and H/Ox were manufactured. Ox represents the SiO2 that was formed with various thicknesses from ANO process. There are two main differences of the experiments for SH/Ox and H/Ox in comparison with SH/O and H/O. First, the platinum was tilted while using the ANO in order to form IL with different thicknesses, as shown in Figure 1.