Published August 31, 2010 | Version v1
Journal article

Nanoscale electrical and crystallographic properties of ultra-thin dielectric films

  • 1. Institute of Materials Engineering, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan (China)
  • 2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089 (United States)

Description

Thin SrTiO3 (STO) films with a thickness of 14 nm were grown on the Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si (STO/Pt) and Ru/SiO2/Si (STO/Ru) substrates at room temperature by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The as-deposited STO films were then post-annealed at 450-650 oC in an oxygen atmosphere in order to obtain various crystallographic features. The crystalline STO/Pt and STO/Ru films were obtained at an annealing temperature above 550 oC. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscope reveal that the crystalline STO films have a microscopically homogeneous film structure. Besides, secondary ion mass spectrometry depth profiles show an increase of interface roughness with an increasing annealing temperature of the STO films. Atomic force microscope images also show that the surface of the crystalline STO/Ru film is smoother than that of the STO/Pt film at a given annealing temperature. The effective improvement in the chemical homogeneity and surface roughness of the STO films results in a considerable decrease in the nanostructural leakage current of the STO films upon the use of a Ru electrode.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2010.03.021

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.tsf.2010.03.021;
PII
S0040-6090(10)00321-4;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Thin Solid Films
Journal Volume
518
Journal Issue
21,suppl.1
Journal Page Range
p. S17-S21
ISSN
0040-6090
CODEN
THSFAP

Conference

Title
10. international symposium on sputtering and plasma processes
Acronym
ISSP2009
Dates
8-10 Jul 2009
Place
Kanazawa (Japan)

Optional Information

Copyright
Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.