In our integration scheme, a “pseudo-3D” capacitor cell is used where the TiAlN\Ir\IrO2\Pt bottom electrode is patterned before SBT deposition. In order to understand how this system behaves mechanically, we have investigated the evolution of the stress of blanket Sr1-xBi2+yTa2O9 (x, y < 0.5) layers deposited on this pre-patterned bottom electrode stack. SBT was deposited by metal organic vapor deposition (MOCVD) between 405 °C and 440 °C. The stresses were monitored by the change in the radius of curvature of the wafer at the subsequent processing steps: deposition of electrodes and SBT, crystallization and recovering annealing, and after removal of Pt top electrode, SBT and bottom electrode layers by dry etching. The stress conditions observed for the different planar layers as a function of the SBT deposition temperature was correlated to the TiAlN lateral oxidation length observed in the etched structure after the SBT crystallization step.

Ba0.60Sr0.40TiO3 thin films were deposited on <100> oriented NdGaO3 substrates by pulsed-laser deposition. Film thickness ranged from 20 nm to 800 nm. Microstructural features, as evaluated with AFM and FESEM, have exhibited high quality thickness dependent topography. X-ray analyses have shown consistently <110> textured films of high crystallinity. Permittivity, Q-factor, and tunability, were investigated using interdigitated capacitors in the 0.1–20 GHz range. Effect of film thickness on dielectric properties and tunability in polycrystalline <110> textured films exhibited strong thickness dependence in their elasto-dielectric properties. Tunability up to 45% was observed at moderate field levels (∼ 7 MV/m), while the Q-factors remained ≤40.

To reveal the complete performance of intrinsic ferroelectriciy-related properties in single crystalline bismuth-layer-structured displacive ferroelectrics in film form on Si, the crucial roles of both orientation control technology by lattice matching from the atomic arrangement of substrate layer and configuration of the volume fraction of 90°-domain during cooling process were demonstrated. 1.2 μm-thick and Pr3+-substituted Bi4-xPrxTi3O12 (BPT, x =0.0, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7) films were grown on Ir(111)/Ti/SiO2/Si(001) substrates by chemical solution deposition (CSD) method with preferred orientation along the major component of Ps vector. BPT film of x =0.3 exhibited superb ferroelectric properties of remanent polarization 2Pr=92 μC/cm2, saturation polarization Psat=50 μC/cm2, and coercive field 2Ec=184 kV/cm. The film also showed uniform piezoelectric response with an effective piezoelectric coefficient of AFM-d33=36 pm/V. During the decomposition of precursor solutions, IrO2 layers were formed at the surface of Ir layers and promoted a/b-axes orientation. During the cooling process after grain growth, in addition, the differential thermal expansion and residual strain between film and substrate introduced bidirectional lateral stress into BPT film and might eliminate the 90°-domain walls dividing a-and b-domains through the relaxation by domain formation at the Curie temperature TC. Consequently the polar-axis orientation was distinctively grown along the film normal and the conjugate non-polar-axis was grown in-plane.

Over the past several years there has been a tremendous growth and development of thin film deposition technology in the electronics industry. Ferroelectric thin films have been recognized for their unique dielectric properties and appear to be desirable for tunable microwave device applications. Among the most promising candidates for such applications are Ba(1−x)SrxTiO3[BST] and BST-based thin films. In this work pure BST and acceptor doped BST-based thin films were fabricated on (100) MgO substrates via pulsed laser deposition [PLD]. X-ray diffraction (XRD) in conjunction with the atomic force microscope (AFM) were used to analyze the film crystalinity and surface morphology. The dielectric properties were characterized at both 100 kHz and 20 GHz. The MIM capacitor configuration was used to attain the dielectric properties at 100 kHz and the microwave measurements, S11 reflection parameters, were achieved via interdigitated capacitor design with Au/Ag top electrodes. The parallel resistor-capacitor models were used to determine the microwave capacitance and Q factors and the permittivity was calculated using a modified conformal-mapping partial-capacitance method using the dimension of the capacitors. Our results demonstrated that the low frequency and microwave frequency dielectric properties were strongly influenced by the film composition. Specifically, the Mg doping served to lower the dissipation factor, permittivity, and tunability of the BST based films at both frequencies. This work demonstrates that the BST based thin films possessed excellent microstructural, structural, and dielectric properties. The structure-process-property correlations of the pulsed laser deposited BST and acceptor doped BST-based thin films are discussed in detail.

Preparation of Ir thin films for PZT capacitors by MOCVD using a new liquid Ir precursor, Ir(EtCp)(CHD) was investigated. Ir thin films with a highly reflecting surface and (111)-orientation were successfully obtained at 230–400 C. When Ir(EtCp)(CHD) was used, shorter incubation time (20min at 230°C and not observed above 240°C) and higher nucleation density (300–400mm-2 at 250–300°C) were observed because of its lower decomposition temperature (300°C) than that of previously reported liquid precursor, Ir(EtCp)(COD). Resistivity of 100nm-thick Ir films grown at 250–350°C were less than 20μΩ·cm. PZT capacitors with top and bottom electrodes prepared using Ir(EtCp)(CHD) showed D-E hysteresis loop with Pr of 15μC/cm and Ec of 60kV/cm. No degradation of switching up to 10 switching cycles by bipolar pulses of ±231kV/cm (±3V) and 500kHz.

Lead strontium titanate (PbxSr1-xTiO3) (x=0.3–1.0) ceramic targets were prepared by the conventional powder-processing method. Thin films of these compositions were deposited on platinized silicon substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. X-ray diffraction studies of the ceramic targets showed that the lattice structure changes from tetragonal to cubic phase with the increase of Sr content in PbTiO3. Raman spectroscopic studies of PbxSr1-xTiO3 (PST) ceramics and thin films showed that the soft mode decreases to lower frequency and finally disappear at around 60–70 at% Sr content, which confirms the tetragonal to cubic phase transition at room temperature. Dielectric constant measured for PST thin films was in the range of 900–1500 at 1 MHz, with maximum value obtained for PST30 thin film. The loss tangents at room temperature were in the range of 0.07–0.1 for PST thin films with different compositions.

A Ru/ Bi 4-xLaxTi 3O12/Ru (Ru/BLT/Ru) capacitor structure with Ru top electrodes deposited by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) was fabricated. On a Ru film deposited by MOCVD, BLT film was formed by a sol-gel method and crystallized in vacuum. Depositing a conformal Ru film on a BLT/Ru structure by MOCVD, Ru/BLT/Ru stack with smooth and flat surface was successfully formed. Then, ferroelectric Ru/BLT/Ru capacitors were fabricated through a dry etching process. It exhibited both good ferroelectric properties (2Pr =16 μC/cm2) and low leakage current density (J =10−7 A/cm2), suggesting that Ru film deposited by MOCVD showed sufficient properties for the tope electrode of Ru/BLT/Ru structures.

For the high density FeRAM applications, the integration process-induces damages such as etching damage that degrades the properties of FRAM devices and the high surface roughness of ferroelectric thin film that results in the difficulty for alignment are critical issues. In order to solve these problems, selective deposition process is developed to simplify the integration processes and improve the properties of FeRAM memory devices. Based on the differential deposition rates of ferroelectric materials on high-k oxide and silicon dioxide, we can selectively deposit a c-axis oriented PGO thin film on the patterned high-k oxide such as ZrOx (x=0–2), HfOx (x=0–2), TiO2, and their mixtures other than on SiO2. By patterning the high-k dielectric, the PGO deposition is limited to just the preferred pattern high-k area. SEM, EDX and x-ray measurements further confirm that the c-axis oriented PGO thin films are selectively deposited on the high-k gate oxide other than on the field SiO2 including alignment mark area, which will eliminate the roughness problem for the alignments. Also the etching damage is eliminated since there is no need to etch the PGO film, which improved the properties of FeRAM devices.