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Post-deposition-annealed lanthanum-doped cerium oxide thin films: structural and electrical properties

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Abstract

The metal-organic-decomposed lanthanum cerium oxide (LaCeO2) solution was spin-coated on p-type Si substrate to form thin films. The method of microwave-assisted annealing was adopted to modify the surface properties of the deposited thin films. The post-deposition annealing (PDA) at different microwave powers and thermal annealing temperature of 400 °C was performed on LaCeO2 thin films spin-coated on Si. Influence of this PDA on structural and electrical properties of deposited LaCeO2 thin films was studied and compared. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results reveal the great improvement in the structural properties in terms of removal of residual impurities from LaCeO2 films, reduced roughness and improvement in crystalline properties as compared to those of hot-plate-annealed samples. The electrical properties of Al/LaCeO2/Si stack were also studied. The different electrical parameters such as k value, interface trap density (Dit) and effective oxide charges (Qeff) were extracted and found to be improved with the increase in microwave annealing power.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi (No. 22(0716)/16/EMR-II) and Special Assistance Programme on Departmental Research Support (SAP-DRS) from University Grant Commission (UGC), New Delhi (No. 503/4/DRS-III/2016-(SAP-I). Authors are grateful to Prof. M. D. Shirsath for providing AFM facility under RUSA scheme and to Microelectronics Department, North China University of Technology, Beijing, China, for providing necessary electrical characterization facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics, Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, 425001, Maharashtra, India

    Viral Nivritti Barhate, Khushabu Santosh Agrawal, Vilas Sidhhanath Patil & Ashok Mahadu Mahajan

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  1. Viral Nivritti Barhate
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  2. Khushabu Santosh Agrawal
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  3. Vilas Sidhhanath Patil
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  4. Ashok Mahadu Mahajan
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Correspondence to Ashok Mahadu Mahajan.

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Barhate, V.N., Agrawal, K.S., Patil, V.S. et al. Post-deposition-annealed lanthanum-doped cerium oxide thin films: structural and electrical properties. Rare Met. 40, 1835–1843 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01380-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01380-x

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