Electrical and physical characteristics of PrTixOy for metal-oxide-semiconductor gate dielectric applications

The electrical and physical characteristics of PrTixOy, for use in metal-oxide-semiconductor gate dielectric applications were investigated. An amorphous layer of PrTixOy with an equivalent oxide thickness of 1 nm and a dielectric constant of 23 was formed by means of e-beam evaporation. Compared to Pr2O3, PrTixOy was found to exhibit excellent characteristics such as a high accumulation capacitance, a low leakage current density, a thin interfacial layer, and a lower reactivity to water. The superiority of PrTixOy can be attributed to the addition of TiO2 to the praseodymium oxide matrix. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.