Impact of Surface Treatments on High-k Zirconium Aluminum Oxide Dielectric without Annealing

Amorphous high-k zirconium aluminum oxide (ZAO) dielectrics are prepared without the post-annealing process to achieve high performance and low cost of next-generation flexible optoelectronic devices. In this study, the ZAO film without annealing was prepared by co-treatment with ultraviolet and hydrogen peroxide solution (UV-H₂O₂-UV). The performance of the film was improved by H₂O₂ dissociating hydroxyl radicals and combining with oxygen vacancy in the treatment process. The results show that, compared with the sample annealed at 380°C, the oxygen vacancy in the film is reduced from 29.55% to25.23% after UV-H₂O₂-UV treatment for 60 min. When the relative permittivity increases from 11.45 to 13.99, the leakage current density at 1 MV/cm decreases from 6.45×10^-7 to 2.86 ×10^-8 A/cm², and the breakdown voltage increases by 108%. This work aims to provide widely applicable and repeatable methods to open the door to in-depth research on alternative high temperature post-annealing processes for high-performance flexible electronic devices.