Frequency dispersion from the effect of surface roughness was best demonstrated in an ultra-thin SiO2 MOS device [70]. To investigate Dasatinib price whether the unwanted frequency dispersion
of the high-k materials (La x Zr1−x O2−δ) was caused by the surface roughness or not, the surface properties of the La x Zr1−x O2−δ thin films was studied using AFM [52]. The root mean square (RMS) roughness of the x = 0.35 thin film was 0.64 nm after annealing. However, no significant roughness was observed for the x = 0.09 thin film (RMS roughness of 0.3 nm). It means that the x = 0.35 thin film had more surface roughness than the x = 0.09 thin film. The annealed thin film with x = 0.09 had large frequency dispersion. However, the annealed thin film with x = 0.35 showed small frequency dispersion. By comparing these results from the C-V measurements, it has led to the conclusion that the surface roughness was not responsible for the observed frequency dispersion of the high-k dielectric thin films (La x Zr1−x O2−δ ). Intrinsic frequency dispersion: mathematic models After careful considerations of the above extrinsic causes for frequency dispersion, high-k capacitance C h was determined. A is the area of the MOS capacitance and t h is the thickness of the high-k oxides. Via
the equation below, dielectric constant (k) was able to be extracted from the high-k capacitance. (1) Frequency dispersion can now solely be associated with the frequency dependence of the k-value. check details The frequency dependence of the k value can be 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase extracted as shown in Figure 2. The figure showed no frequency dependence of the k value in LaAlO3/SiO2, ZrO2/SiO2 and SiO2 stacks [56]. However, the frequency dependence of the k-value was observed in La x Zr 1–x O2/SiO2 stacks [52]. The zirconium thin film with a lanthanum (La)
concentration of x = 0.09 showed a sharp decreased k-value and suffered from a severe dielectric relaxation. A k value of 39 was obtained at 100 Hz, but this value was reduced to a k value of 19 at 1 MHz. The 10% Ce-doped hafnium thin film [55] also had a k value change from 33 at 100 Hz to 21 at 1 MHz. In order to interpret intrinsic frequency dispersion, many dielectric relaxation models were proposed in terms with frequency dependence of k value. Figure 2 Frequency dependence of k value extracted from C- f CH5183284 mouse measurements in the MOS capacitors with high- k dielectrics [[52],[55],[56]]. In 1889, the Curie-von Schweidler (CS) law was firstly announced and developed later in 1907 [71, 72]. The general type of dielectric relaxation in time domain can be described by the CS law (the t −n behavior, 0 ≤ n ≤ 1). (2) where P(t) represented the polarization and the exponent n indicated the degree of dielectric relaxation.