Thomas M. Shaw

Microstructured magnetic tunnel junctions (invited)

We have used a simple self-aligned process to fabricate magnetic tunnel junctions down to submicron sizes. Optical and electron-beam lithographies were used to cover a range of areas spanning five orders of magnitude. The bottom magnetic electrodes (Co or permalloy) in our junctions were exchange biased by an antiferromagnetic layer (MnFe). The top electrodes were made of soft magnetic materials (Co or permalloy). We have consistently obtained large magnetoresistance ratios (15%–22%) at room temperature and in fields of a few tens of Oe. The shape of the field response of the magnetoresistance was varied from smooth to highly hysteretic by adjusting the shape anisotropy of one junction electrode.

The effect of stress on the dielectric properties of barium strontium titanate thin films

Barium strontium titanate thin films are being developed as capacitors in dynamic random access memories. These films, grown on silicon substrates, are under tensile residual stress. By a converse electrostrictive effect, the in-plane tensile stress reduces the capacitance in the thickness direction of the film. We measured the substrate curvature change upon the removal of the film, and found the magnitude of the residual stress to be 610 MPa. In a separate experiment, we applied a force to vary the stress in a film on a substrate, and simultaneously recorded the capacitance change of the film. The measurements quantify the effect of stress on thin film capacitance. The stress free capacitance was found to be 23% higher than the capacitance under residual stress.

(Ba,Sr)TiO 3 dielectrics for future stacked- capacitor DRAM

Thin films of barium-strontium titanate (Ba,Sr)TiO3 (BSTO) have been investigated for use as a capacitor dielectric for future generations of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). This paper describes progress made in the preparation of BSTO films by liquid-source metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (LS-MOCVD) and the issues related to integrating films of BSTO into a DRAM capacitor. Films of BSTO deposited on planar Pt electrodes meet the electrical requirements needed for future DRAM. The specific capacitance and charge loss are found to be strongly dependent on the details of the BSTO deposition, the choice of the lower electrode structure, the microstructure of the BSTO, the post-electrode thermal treatments, BSTO dopants, and thin-film stress. Films of BSTO deposited on patterned Pt electrodes with a feature size of 0.2 µm are found to have degraded properties compared to films on large planar structures, but functional bits have been achieved on a DRAM test site at 0.20-µm ground rules. Mechanisms influencing specific capacitance and charge loss of BSTO films are described, as are the requirements for the electrode and barrier materials used in stacked-capacitor structures, with emphasis given to the properties of the Pt/TaSi(N) electrode/barrier system. Major problems requiring additional investigation are outlined.

Dielectric relaxation of Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin films from 1 mHz to 20 GHz

The dielectric relaxation of Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin films was investigated up to K band (20 GHz) using time domain and frequency domain measurements. Our results show that from 1 mHz to 20 GHz, the dielectric relaxation of the complex capacitance of Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin films can be understood in terms of a power law dependence known as the Curie–von Schweidler law. The small dispersion (less than 7% decrease in capacitance from 1 mHz to 20 GHz) and low loss (loss angle less than 0.006 at 20 GHz) measured in Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin films indicate that these films are applicable to device application up to at least K band.

Crystallography and microstructure of Y1Ba2Cu3O9−x, a perovskite‐based superconducting oxide

We have investigated the crystallography and microstructure of Y1Ba2Cu3O9−x with transmission electron microscopy and x‐ray diffraction. Y1Ba2Cu3O9−x is a distorted, oxygen‐defect perovskite with ordering of the yttrium and barium ions. Its unit cell is orthorhombic with space group Pmm2 and lattice parameters a=3.893 A, b=11.688 A, and c=3.820 A. The structure is heavily twinned on {101} type planes, possibly due to a tetragonal‐to‐orthorhombic transition above room temperature.

Simple model for time-dependent dielectric breakdown in inter- and intralevel low-k dielectrics

A simple physical model is applied to time-dependent dielectric breakdown failure in ultralow-k(k=2.3) interlevel dielectrics. The model assumes that failure depends on the probability that an electron will have enough energy to damage the dielectric as it is accelerated in an electric field. It is seen that the characteristic form of the dependence of failure time on voltage or electric field is primarily dependent on the probability of having sufficient energy and not on the precise physical mechanism causing damage. An argument for a log-normal-like failure distribution is also presented.

METALLIZATION INDUCED BAND BENDING OF SRTIO3(100) AND BA0.7SR0.3TIO3

We have investigated the interaction of Pt with single-crystal SrTiO3(001) and polycrystalline Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin films using photoemission spectroscopies. Significant band bending is caused by interface formation, determining the Schottky barrier height. We have depth profiled the band bending for Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin films, giving a direct measurement of the depletion depth and built-in potential.

The effect of grain size on microstructure and stress relaxation in polycrystalline Y 1 Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7−δ

We have used transmission electron microscopy and optical microscopy to examine the effect that grain size and heat treatment have on twinning and microcracking in polycrystalline Y 1 Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7−δ . It is shown that isothermal oxygenation heat treatments produce twin structures consisting of parallel twins, with a characteristic spacing that increases with increasing grain size. Slow cooling through the temperature range where the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal transformation induces twinning, however, produces a structure consisting of a hierarchical arrangement of intersecting twins, the scale of which appears to be independent of grain size. It is also shown that the microcracking induced by anisotropic changes in grain dimensions on cooling or during oxygenation can be suppressed if the grain size of the material is kept below about 1 μm. The results are examined in the light of current models for transformation twinning and microcracking and the models used to access the effect other processing variables such as oxygen content, doping or heat treatment may have on the microstructure of Y 1 Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7−δ .

Hydrogen induced tunnel emission in Pt/(BaxSr1−x)Ti1+yO3+z/Pt thin film capacitors

The leakage current density–applied field (J−EA) characteristics of (BaxSr1−x)Ti1+yO3+z (BSTO) thin film capacitors with Pt electrodes that have been annealed in forming gas (95% Ar 5% H2 or D2) were investigated over the temperature range from −60 to +60 °C. Forming gas annealing significantly increased the leakage current density. The J–EA characteristics exhibited features that could not be fully explained by either a simple thermionic emission or tunneling (Fowler–Nordeim) formalism. Using the general charge transport theory of Murphy and Good, we show that the J–EA characteristics can be successfully interpreted in terms of tunneling of electrons through the interfacial Schottky barrier with the peak in energy distribution of the incident carriers strongly dependent on applied field. At high applied fields the energy distribution of incident carriers is peaked near the Fermi level in the electron injecting metal electrode at all temperatures considered in this study, leading to almost temperature ind...

Electromigration and adhesion

It has been demonstrated that, in those instances where electromigration-induced mass transport is dominated by interfacial diffusion, the adhesion at the interface where mass transport is primarily taking place is related to the electromigration flux. Furthermore, it is shown that the cohesive energy of the interface is directly related to the activation energy for diffusion.