Electrical properties of La2O3 thin films grown on TiN/Si substrates via atomic layer deposition

Abstract The electrical as well as the structural properties of La 2 O 3 thin films on TiN substrates were investigated. Amorphous stoichiometric La 2 O 3 thin films were grown at 300 °C via atomic layer deposition technique by using lanthanum 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedione [La(TMHD) 3 ] and H 2 O as precursors. Post-annealing of the grown film induced dramatic changes in structural and the electrical properties. Crystalline phases of the La 2 O 3 film emerged with the increase of the post-annealing temperature. Metal–insulator–metal (MIM) capacitor was fabricated to measure the electrical properties of the grown film. The dielectric constant of the La 2 O 3 thin films increased with annealing temperature to reach the value of 17.3 at 500 °C. The leakage current density of the film post-annealed at 400 °C was estimated to be 2.78 × 10 −10 and 2.1 × 10 −8 A/cm 2 at ±1 V, respectively.