The study on characteristics and fabrications of ferroelectric $LiNbO_3$ thin films using RF sputtering

RF스퍼터링법을 이용한 강유전체 $LiNbO_3$ 박막의 제작과 특성연구

$LiNbO_3$ transistor showed relatively stable characteristic, low interface trap density, and large remanent polarization. This paper reports ferroelectric $LiNbO_3$ thin films grown directly on p-type Si(100) substrates by 13.56 MHz rf magnetron sputtering system for FRAM applications. To take advantage of low temperature requirement for growing films, we deposited $LiNbO_3$ films lower than $300 ^{\circ}C$. RTA(Rapid Thermal Anneal) treatment was performed for as-deposited films in an oxygen atmosphere at $600^{\circ}C$ for 60 sec. We learned from X-ray diffraction that the RTA annealed films were changed from amorphous to poly-crystalline $LiNbO_3$ which exhibited (012), (015), and (022) orientations. The I-V characteristics of $LiNbO_3$ films before and after anneal treatment showed that RTA improved the leakage current of films. The leakage current density of films decreased from $10^{-5}$ to $10^{-7} A/cm^2$ at room temperature measurement. Breakdown electric field of the films exhibited higher than 500 kV/cm. The C-V curves showed the clockwise hysteresis represents ferroelectric switching characteristics. From C-V curves, we calculated dielectric constant of thin film $LiNbO_3$ as 27.5 which is close to that of bulk value.