Low Temperature Deposition of High Dielectric Constant Thin Films for Decoupling Capacitor Applications

High dielectric constant thin films for packaging applications were studied. Compared with polycrystalline or epitaxial ferroelectric thin films amorphous ferroelectric films are a promising alternative because of their ease of processing and low leakage current. Reactive Partially Ionized Beam deposition (RPIB) offers a new approach to deposit high dielectric constant films at a low substrate temperature. As an example, the growth of amorphous BaTiO3 thin films using RPIB deposition is described. The films were characterized in terms of dielectric constant and leakage current. The annealing effects on the film properties are also discussed.