Structural and Dielectric Properties of Subnanometric Laminates of Binary Oxides

Capacitors with a dielectric material consisting of amorphous laminates of Al2O3 and TiO2 with subnanometer individual layer thicknesses can show strongly enhanced capacitance densities compared to the bulk or laminates with nanometer layer thickness. In this study, the structural and dielectric properties of such subnanometer laminates grown on silicon by state-of-the-art atomic layer deposition are investigated with varying electrode materials. The laminates show a dielectric constant reaching 95 combined with a dielectric loss (tan δ) of about 0.2. The differences of the observed dielectric properties in capacitors with varying electrodes indicate that chemical effects at the interface with the TiN electrode play a major role, while the influence of the local roughness of the individual layers is rather limited.