Effects of post-oxygen plasma treatment on Pt/(Ba,Sr)TiO3/Pt capacitors at low substrate temperatures

We investigated how oxygen plasma post-treatment improves leakage characteristics of Pt/(Ba,Sr)TiO3 (BST)/Pt capacitors prepared by the radio-frequency (RF) cosputtering technique. Experimental results indicate that oxygen plasma treatment can effectively passivate the oxygen vacancies of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 (BST) films, thus decreasing the electric conduction paths of leakage currents. By this low-temperature (250°C), and short-duration (~5 min) process, the leakage current is reduced by as many as two orders of magnitude. The reliability characteristics of time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) are improved as well. However, the usage of oxygen plasma treatment is not unrestricted. Plasma treatment for an extended period (more than 10 min) degrades both the leakage and reliability characteristics, due to plasma damage. Excellent electrical characteristics, including low leakage current (1.5 ×10-8 A/cm2) under 0.1 MV/cm, high dielectric constant (288), and a lifetime longer than 10 years under 2 MV/cm can be achieved. Therefore, the proposed technique for as-deposited BST films is a highly promising means of improving the electrical characteristics of BST thin films.