Electrical characterization of high-pressure reactive sputtered ScOx films on silicon

Al/ScOx/SiNx/n-Si and Al/ScOx/SiOx/n-Si metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors have been electrically characterized. Scandium oxide was grown by high-pressure sputtering on different substrates to study the dielectric/insulator interface quality. The substrates were silicon nitride and native silicon oxide. The use of a silicon nitride interfacial layer between the silicon substrate and the scandium oxide layer improves interface quality, as interfacial state density and defect density inside the insulator are decreased.