Platinum(100) hillock growth in a Pt/Ti electrode stack for ferroelectric random access memory

The Pt hillock in a Pt/Ti electrode stack has been the main concern in ferroelectric random access memory due to the reliability problem. The origin of the hillock formation is the compressive stress, and the main mass transport mechanism for hillock formation is the grain boundary diffusion for thin films with a columnar structure. However, the hillock growth orientation and mechanism have not been reported. In this study, we found that an orientation relationship of Pt(100)(hillock)//Pt(111)(thin film) existed between the Pt hillock and the thin film. The Pt hillock was a single crystal having facets with polyatomic steps. From these results, we suggest that the Pt hillock growth mechanism is the layer growth of flat faces, which shapes the hillock into a tetrahedron single crystal. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.