Rapid thermal processed thin films of reactively sputtered Ta2O5

Abstract Rapid thermal processed thin films of reactively sputtered tantalum pentoxide Ta2O5 thin films have been deposited on silicon and platinum coated silicon substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering. The as-deposited films were amorphous and showed good electrical properties in terms of a dielectric permittivity of about 24 and leakage current density of 9 × 10−8A cm−2. A rapid thermal annealing process at temperatures above 700 °C crystallized the films, increased the dielectric relative permittivity, and decreased the leakage current. The dielectric constant for a film rapidly annealed at 850 °C increased to 45 and its leakage current density lowered to 2 × 10−8A cm−2. The dielectric measurements in the MIS configuration showed that Ta2O5 might be used as a dielectric material instead of SiO2 or Si3N4 for integrated devices. The current voltage characteristics observed at low and high fields suggested different conduction mechanisms.