Abstract
Thin amorphous and orthorhombic ZrTiO 4 film with a high-work-function Ni top electrode has been explored in metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors for analog circuit applications. It has been found that even though the permittivity can be as high as 78.9 for orthorhombic ZrTiO 4 , the extraordinarily high quadratic voltage coefficient of capacitance (VCC), and leakage current make it ineligible for reliable MIM capacitors. On the other hand, amorphous ZrTiO 4 demonstrates a high capacitance density of 29.12 fF/μ m 2 and a low VCC of 2341 ppm/ V 2 . Because of the amorphous phase and the conduction mechanism of Schottky emission, a low leakage current of 1.3× 10 -7 A/ cm 2 at -2 V and a good thermal leakage up to 125 °C has also been obtained. Besides these promising characteristics, amorphous ZrTiO 4 holds a great potential for high-performance MIM capacitors not only in its process simplicity but also in the full compatibility with incumbent backend integrated circuit technology. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.