Effects of O2 plasma treatment on the electric and dielectric characteristics of Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin films

Abstract The effects of the O 2 plasma treatment on the electric and dielectric characteristics of Ba 0.7 Sr 0.3 TiO 3 (BST) thin films were investigated. As a result of the exposure of the as-deposited or the annealed BST films to the O 2 plasma, the leakage current density of the BST films can be improved. Typically, the leakage current density can decrease by three orders of magnitude as compared that of the non-plasma treated sample at an applied voltage of 1.5 V. It is found that the plasma treatment changes the surface morphology. The capacitance of the BST films was reduced by 10%∼30%. The improvement of the leakage current density and the reduction of a dielectric constant for the plasma treated samples could be attributed to the reduction of carbon contaminations of BST thin films. The 10 year life time of the time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) studies indicates that all the samples have a life time of over 10 years of operation at a voltage bias of 1 V.