Investigation of low k interfacial layer characteristics of LaAlO3 thin films grown on Si (100)

Abstract

Abstract Amorphous LaAlO3 thin films were deposited on bare Si substrates using RF-magnetron sputtering at room temperature. A post-annealing process was performed in O2 atmosphere at 650 °C for 30 min. The annealed films have a high-quality amorphous structure with faceted surface and uniform thickness. Smaller roughness of about 0.197 nm was observed. By analyzing the interfacial structure of the films, we confirmed that O2 annealing causes the formation of a low k (∼ 6.57) La and Al silicate phase with high-quality interface and surface. Unlike most previous studies, our results show the possibility of the formation of a relatively low k interfacial layer for LaAlO3 thin films during the thermal processing required by complementary metal oxide semiconductor applications.