High-k titanium silicate dielectric thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition

We report the pulsed-laser deposition of high-k titanium silicate thin films. The titanium silicate films were deposited by laser ablating a (Ti, Si) target in an oxygen pressure of 70 mTorr. The deposited films were found to exhibit nanocrystalline structure with a grain size of about 3.5 nm as deduced from x-ray diffraction measurements. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the existence of Ti-O-Si bonds in the films. The binding energies of [Ti 2p3/2 (458.6 eV), Si 2p (102.3 eV), O 1s (531.8 eV)] as measured by means of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy provided evidence of titanium silicate. On the other hand, the average dielectric constant of the pulse laser deposited titanium silicate thin films were found to be about 11 in the frequency range of 100 kHz to 13 MHz. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.