Electrode oxygen-affinity influence on voltage nonlinearities in high-k metal-insulator-metal capacitors

This work highlights the influence of the oxygen affinity of the metal electrodes used in high-k metal-insulator-metal capacitors. Several metallic electrodes are tested in order to investigate the role of the metal work function, and the role of the electrode oxygen-affinity in nonlinear behavior of HfO(2) and BaTiO(3) capacitors. It is shown that the magnitude of the quadratic coefficient of nonlinearity is better explained by the electrode oxygen-affinity rather than by its work function. It is thought that electrode oxidation increases the number of oxygen vacancies at the electrode/dielectric interface, and so increases the magnitude of nonlinearity. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3447795]