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Reactive magnetron sputtered aluminum titanate high-к dielectric films for MIM devices

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Abstract

Metal–insulator–metal (MIM) devices were fabricated with Al/Al2TiO5 stack on Pt/Ti coated SiO2/Si substrates and studied the effect of synthesized oxygen flow rate on their composition, structural and electrical properties. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the presence of aluminum, titanium and oxygen with the ratio 2:1:5, respectively in the projected mixed insulator Al2TiO5. XRD spectra showed that the Al2TiO5 high-k films were amorphous in nature. The average grain size observed from atomic force micrograph of the deposited high-k layer could be 25 nm. The capacitance–voltage curves showed reasonably accepted accumulation capacitance values. The films showed the dielectric constant of 19.3 and the leakage current density of 4 × 10–7 A/cm2 with good break down behavior. The leakage current in the films can be attributed to the Fowler–Nordheim mechanism due to tunneling of electron at higher electric field and Poole–Frenkel emission in the medium field region since the dielectric films contained the defects and traps.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to National Nano Fabrication Centre (NNFC) and Micro and Nano Characterization Facility (MNCF) in the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE).

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No funds or grants were received.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, 517 502, India

    Suresh Addepalli & Uthanna Suda

  2. Department of Physics and Electronics, GITAM School of Science, GITAM (Deemed to be) University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, 530045, India

    S. V. Jagadeesh Chandra

  3. Depatment of Electronics and Communication, LBR College of Engineering, Mylavaram, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, 521230, India

    E. V. Krishna Rao

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [AS and SVJC], [EVKR and SU] and [AS, JC and SU]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [AS] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to S. V. Jagadeesh Chandra.

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Addepalli, S., Chandra, S.V.J., Rao, E.V.K. et al. Reactive magnetron sputtered aluminum titanate high-к dielectric films for MIM devices. Appl. Phys. A 129, 793 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-023-07065-3

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