Microstructure and electrical characteristics of Ba0.65Sr0.35TiO3 thin films etched in CF4/Ar/O2 plasma

Radio frequency magnetron sputtered Ba0.65Sr0.35TiO3 (BST) thin films were etched in CF4/Ar/O-2 Plasma by magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching technique. The etching characteristics of BST films were characterized in terms of microstructure and electrical properties. Atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction results indicate that the microstructure of the etched BST film is degraded because of the rugged surface and lowered intensities of BST (100), (1 10), (111) and (200) peaks compared to the unetched counterparts. Dielectric constant and dielectric dissipation of the unetched, etched and postannealed-after-etched BST film capacitors are 419, 346, 371, 0.018, 0.039 and 0.031 at 100 kHz, respectively. The corresponding dielectric tunability, figure of merit and remnant polarization are 19.57%, 11.56%. 17,25%. 10.87, 2.96, 5.56, 3.62 mu C/cm(2), 2.32 and 2.81 mu C/cm(2) at 25 V, respectively. The leakage current density of 1.75 x 10(-4) A/cm(2) at 15 V for the etched BST capacitor is over two orders of magnitude higher than 1.28 x 10(-6) A/cm(2) for the unetched capacitor, while leakage current density of the postannealed-after-etched capacitor decreases slightly. It means that the electrical properties of the etched BST film are deteriorated due to the CF4/Ar/O-2 plasma-induced damage. Furthermore, the damage is alleviated, and the degraded microstructure and electrical properties are partially recovered after the etched BST film is postannealed at 923 K for 20 min under a flowing O-2 ambience. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.