Improvement in the leakage current characteristic of metal-insulator-metal capacitor by adopting RuO2 film as bottom electrode

The dielectric constant, equivalent oxide thickness (t(ox)), and leakage current properties of Pt/(Al-doped) TiO2/RuO2 capacitors were examined in comparison with Pt/(Al-doped) TiO2/Ru capacitors. The Al-doped TiO2 and undoped TiO2 films grown on RuO2 showed high dielectric constants of 60 and 102, respectively. The minimum tox of these films were 0.46 nm and 0.56 nm, respectively, while still satisfying the dynamic random access memory leakage current density specification (< 1 x 10(-7) Acm(-2) at capacitor voltage of 0.8 V). These excellent electrical properties of (Al-doped) TiO2 on RuO2 were attributed to the high work function and the reduced interfacial effect on RuO2. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3609875]