Flexible high-κ/Metal gate metal/insulator/metal capacitors on silicon (100) fabric

Abstract

Implementation of memory on bendable substrates is an important step toward a complete and fully developed notion of mechanically flexible computational systems. In this paper, we have demonstrated a simple fabrication flow to build metal-insulator-metal capacitors, key components of dynamic random access memory, on a mechanically flexible silicon (100) fabric. We rely on standard microfabrication processes to release a thin sheet of bendable silicon (area: 18 {\rm cm}2 and thickness: 25 \mu{\rm m}) in an inexpensive and reliable way. On such platform, we fabricated and characterized the devices showing mechanical robustness (minimum bending radius of 10 mm at an applied strain of 83.33% and nominal strain of 0.125%) and consistent electrical behavior regardless of the applied mechanical stress. Furthermore, and for the first time, we performed a reliability study suggesting no significant difference in performance and showing an improvement in lifetime projections. © 1963-2012 IEEE.