[en] Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors that incorporate La₂O₃ dielectric films were deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. In this work, the essential structures and electrical properties of La₂O₃ thin films were investigated. Capacitance-voltage, energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry, and transmission electron microscopy analyses reveal that an interfacial layer was formed, subsequently reducing the effective dielectric constant of the 700 deg. C annealed La₂O₃ thin films. The dominant conduction mechanism of the Al/La₂O₃/p-Si metal-lanthanum oxide-semiconductor capacitor is space-charge-limited current from 300 to 465 K in the accumulation mode. Three different regions, Ohm's law region, trap-filled-limited region, and Child's law region, were observed in the current-density-voltage (J-V) characteristics at room temperature. The activation energy of traps calculated from the Arrhenius plots was about 0.21±0.01 eV. The electronic mobility, trap density, dielectric relaxation time, and density of states in the conduction band were determined from the space-charge-limited conduction at room temperature

[en] Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors that incorporate ZrO₂ gate dielectrics were fabricated by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. In this work, the essential structures and electrical properties of ZrO₂ thin films were investigated. C-V, energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry, and transmission electron microscopy analyses reveal that an interfacial layer was formed, subsequently reducing the k value of the annealed ZrO₂ thin films. Additionally, the mechanisms of conduction of the Al/ZrO₂/p-Si metal/zirconium oxide/semiconductor structure were studied with reference to plots of standard Schottky emission, modified Schottky emission, and Poole-Frenkel emission. According to those results, the dominant mechanisms at high temperatures (>425 K) are Poole-Frenkel emission and Schottky emission in low electric fields (<0.6 MV/cm) and high electric fields (>1 MV/cm), respectively. Experimental results indicate that the Al/ZrO₂ barrier height is 0.92 eV and the extracted trap level is about 1.1 eV from the conduction band of ZrO₂. The modified Schottky emission can be applied in an electric field to ensure that the electronic mean free path of the insulator is less than its thickness. According to the modified Schottky emission model, the extracted electronic mobility of ZrO₂ thin films is around 13 cm²/V s at 475 K. The mean free path of transported electrons in ZrO₂ thin films is between 16.2 and 17.4 nm at high temperatures (425-∼475 K)