We report measured evolutions of the optical band gap, refractive index, and relative dielectric constant of TiO2 film obtained by electron beam gun evaporation and annealed in an oxygen environment. A negative shift of the flat band voltage with increasing annealing temperatures, for any film thickness, is observed. A dramatic reduction of the leakage current by about four orders of magnitude to 5×10−6 A/cm2 (at 1 MV/cm) after 700 °C and 60 min annealing is found for films thinner than 15 nm. An equivalent SiO2 thickness of the order of 3–3.5 nm is demonstrated. An approach is presented to establish that at different ranges of applied voltage the hopping, space charge limited current, and Fowler–Nordheim are the basic mechanisms of carrier transport into the TiO2 film.

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We report properties of Er2O3 films deposited on silicon using electron-beam gun evaporation. We describe the evolution with thickness and annealing temperature of the morphology, structure, and electrical characteristics. An effective relative dielectric constant in the range of 6–14, a minimum leakage current density of 1–2×10−8 A/cm2 at an electric field of 106 V/cm and breakdown electric field of 0.8–1.7×107 V/cm are demonstrated. Breakdown electric field and leakage current densities are correlated with the surface morphology. The obtained characteristics make the Er2O3 films a promising substitute for SiO2 as an ultrathin gate dielectric.

This work examines the electrical properties of metal-dielectric-semiconductor (Au/Ti–D–pSi) and metal-dielectric-metal (Au/Ti–D–Pt/Ti–pSi) capacitors which incorporate as dielectrics Y2O3, Al2O3 and Ta2O5 films evaporated by an electron beam at room temperature. The emphasis of the results is twofold: the first is the high quality of the investigated films as evidenced by the small measured values of loss factor, flatband voltages, and surface states density as well as the low dispersion of the relative dielectric constants. The second is an analytical procedure for discrimination of current flow mechanisms, under different regimes of applied voltage. A detailed study of the power exponent parameter α=d(Log I)/d(Log V) was found to be superior to conventional graphical representation of I–V data. The dominant mechanisms of charge transport through the metal-dielectric-metal structures was found to be the Schottky emission for Y2O3 and Al2O3 at low electrical fields. For structures with Y2O3 and Ta2O5 films operating in the high field regime, the charge transport mechanism is mainly space charge limited current.

Structural properties of an ultrathin, 4.5 nm, erbium-oxide film and electrical properties of metal–oxide–semiconductor structure based on it are described. The evolution of the dielectric constant, total charge density, breakdown electric field, and leakage current density with annealing temperature in an oxygen environment are reported. The dielectric constant in the as-deposited state is relatively low, ∼7, possibly because the initial deposition forms ErO (with low polarizibility) rather than Er2O3. Annealing causes a transformation of ErO to Er2O3 but at the same time it initiates the growth of an interfacial SiO2 layer so that the effective dielectric constant is reduced to 5.5. Using the 4.5 nm film following annealing at up to 750 °C, we demonstrate an effective oxide thickness in the range 2.4–3.2 nm, with a leakage current density as low as 1–2×10−8 A/cm2 at an electric field of 106 V/cm and a breakdown electric field of 0.8–1.7×107 V/cm. A shift of the flat band voltage to the positive side and lowering of the total positive charge density down to 1012 cm−2 with annealing temperature are observed and can be explained by a charge compensation mechanism between the charges accumulated at the SiO2/Er2O3 and Si/SiO2 interface.