Characteristics of Y₂O₃ films on Si(100) by ionized cluster beam deposition

In this study, the Y₂O₃ films on p-type Si(100) have been fabricated by UHV reactive ionized cluster beam deposition (r-ICB) systems. The crystallinity of the films was investigated by glancing X-ray diffraction (GXRD) and in-situ reflection of high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) analyses. The results show that the preferentially oriented crystallinity of the films was increased with acceleration voltages as well as substrate temperatures. Especially, at the substrate temperature of 700 °C and the acceleration voltage of 5 kV, the Y₂O₃ films grow epitaxially in direction of Y₂O₃ (110)//Si(100). The characteristics of Al/Y₂O₃/Si MIS structure were obtained by C-V, and I-V measurements. The breakdown field strength of the epitaxially grown films increases up to 2 MV/cm without any interface silicon oxide layer, and the dielectric constant is found to be ε = 15.6. these results demonstrated that the yttrium oxide films have potential application to the gate insulator of the future VLSI/ULSI devices.