Phase stabilization of sputtered strontium zirconate

In this paper we present the investigation of high-k dielectrics in a metal–insulator–metal structure. We show the physical and electrical properties of ZrO2 and SrxZr(1−x)Oy grown through sputter deposition. Uncontrolled crystallization of ZrO2 during the growth into a mixture of different phases was observed. As a consequence, the k-value was suppressed. Stabilization of the amorphous phase of the as grown films could be achieved by the admixture of SrO. This enabled controlled crystallization into a single phase after performing post-deposition annealing. The k-value of the annealed SrxZr(1−x)Oy was determined to be 33.

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