High dielectric constant TiO2 thin films on a Ru electrode grown at 250°C by atomic-layer deposition

Abstract

TiO2 thin films with high dielectric constants (83-100) were grown on a Ru electrode at a growth temperature of 250°C using the atomic-layer deposition method. The as-deposited films were crystallized with rutile structure. Adoption of O3 with a very high concentration (400 g/m3) was crucial for obtaining the rutile phase and the high dielectric constant. The leakage current density of a TiO2 film with an equivalent oxide thickness of 1.0-1.5 nm was 10-6 - 10 -8 A/cm2 at ± 1 V. All these electrical properties were obtained after limited postannealing where the annealing temperature was <500°C, which is crucial to the structural stability of the Ru electrode. Therefore, these TiO2 films are very promising as the capacitor dielectrics of dynamic random access memories. TiO2 films grown on a bare Si wafer or Pt electrode by the same process had anatase structure and a dielectric constant of ∼40. © 2004 American Institute of Physics.