Enhanced leakage current behavior of Sr2Ta2O7−x/SrTiO3 bilayer dielectrics for metal–insulator–metal capacitors

Metal–Insulator–Metal (MIM) capacitors are one of the most essential components of radio frequency devices and analog/mixed-signal integrated circuits. In order to obtain high capacitance densities in MIM devices, high-k materials have been considered to be promising candidates to replace the traditional insulators. The challenging point is that the dielectric material must demonstrate high capacitance density values with low leakage current densities.In this work, SrTiO3 based MIM capacitors have been investigated and the electrical performance of the devices have been optimized by using bilayered systems of Sr2Ta2O7−x/SrTiO3 with different thicknesses of Sr2Ta2O7−x. Sputtering X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements have been applied to investigate the interfaces between the thin film constituents of the MIM stacks. The optimized bilayered system provides a leakage current density of 8∗10− 8 A/cm2 at 2 V (bottom electrode injection) and a high capacitance density of 13 fF/μm2.