Amorphous lanthanum lutetium oxide thin films as an alternative high-κ gate dielectric

Lanthanum lutetium oxide thin films were grown on (100) Si by pulsed laser deposition. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and x-ray reflectometry were employed to investigate the samples. The results indicate the growth of stoichiometric and smooth LaLuO3 films that remain amorphous up to 1000 degrees C. Internal photoemission and photoconductivity measurements show a band gap width of 5.2 +/- 0.1 eV and symmetrical conduction and valence band offsets of 2.1 eV. Capacitance and leakage current measurements reveal C-V curves with a small hysteresis, a dielectric constant of approximate to 32, and low leakage current density levels. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.