Effect of a silicon nitride buffer layer on the electrical properties of tantalum pentoxide films

✍ Scribed by B.Y. Wang; Hao Wang; C. Ye; Y. Wang; Y. Ye; W.F. Wang

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 495 KB
• Volume: 87
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-9317
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mee.2009.08.020

✦ Synopsis

Ta 2 O 5 films with a buffer layer of silicon nitride of various thicknesses were deposited on Si substrate by reactive sputtering and submitted to annealing at 700 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. The microstructure and the electrical properties of thin films were studied. It was found that with a buffer layer of silicon nitride the electrical properties of Si x N y /Ta 2 O 5 film can be improved than Ta 2 O 5 film. When the thickness of the buffer layer was 3 nm, the Si x N y /Ta 2 O 5 film has the highest dielectric constant of 27.4 and the lowest leakage current density of 4.61 Â 10 À5 A/cm 2 (at À1 V). For the Si x N y (3 nm)/Ta 2 O 5 film, the conduction mechanism of leakage current was also analyzed and showed four types of conduction mechanisms at different applied voltages.