Performance Improvement of Sm2O3 MIM Capacitors by Using Plasma Treatment After Dielectric Formation

In this letter, we investigate the dependence of the performance of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors with Sm2O3 dielectric on plasma treatment (PT) performed before Sm2O3 deposition, after Sm2O3 deposition, or both before and after Sm2O3 deposition. By performing PT in N-2 ambient (PTN) after Sm2O3 dielectric formation, the effective quadratic voltage coefficient of capacitance (VCC) can be reduced from 498 to 234 ppm/V-2 and the effective linear VCC can be reduced from 742.3 to 172 ppm/V for MIM capacitor with Sm2O3 dielectric having a capacitance density of similar to 7.5 fF/mu m(2). The leakage current density at +3.3 V can be reduced from 3.44 x 10(-7) to 1.60 x 10(-8) A/cm(2) by performing PTN in both before and after Sm2O3 deposition. PTN after dielectric formation is an effective way to improve the performance of high-kappa dielectric MIM capacitors for RF and analog/mixed signal IC applications.