High capacitance density (> 17 fF//spl mu/m/sup 2/) Nb/sub 2/O/sub 5/-based MIM capacitors for future RF IC applications

MIM capacitor with niobium pentoxide (Nb/sub 2/O/sub 5/) dielectric whose K value is higher than 40, is successfully demonstrated for RF bypass capacitor application. Nb/sub 2/O/sub 5/ MIM with HfO/sub 2//Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ barriers delivers a record high capacitance density >17 fF//spl mu/m/sup 2/ with excellent reliability and RF properties, while maintaining comparable leakage current with other high-K dielectrics. It is demonstrated that the high capacitance values can be stable up to 20 GHz when it is integrated into Cu-BEOL process.