Interactions between ferroelectric BaTiO₃ and Si

Ferroelectric BaTiO₃ thin films were deposited on single crystal Si substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. Bilayer structures of BaTiO₃ thin films, either amorphous on polycrystalline (A/P) or polycrystalline on microcrystalline (P/M), were utilized to reduce the leakage current and to enhance the dielectric constant of the films compared to single polycrystalline and amorphous layer structures, respectively. Relatively lower charge density, determined by the capacitance-voltage measurement on the capacitors with a configuration of Au/ BaTiO/p-Si/Al, was detected for the BaTiO₃ thin film with a structure of P/M. The current-voltage characteristics of the Al/SiO₂(~1.8 nm)/p-Si/Al diodes fabricated on the Si after removing BaTiO₃ layers gave direct evidence of the preservation of the Si surface crystal by using a P/M instead of a A/P structure. This was further confirmed by the Auger electron spectroscopy analysis on the samples.