PROPERTIES OF AMORPHOUS TANTALUM PENTOXIDE THIN FILMS ON SILICON.

Abstract

This investigation was aimed at evaluating the potential of tantalum pentoxide, which has a reported dielectric constant of larger than 20, as an alternative dielectric layer on silicon for applications in very large scale integrated devices and circuits. Another potential usage of this material is as a capacitor dielectric in packaging applications. The tantalum pentoxide films were analyzed with analytical techniques like Auger sputter profiling, secondary ion mass spectroscopy and Rutherford backscattering. Results of these measurements will be described and correlated with the observed electrical properties of the tantalum pentoxide films on silicon.