SIMULATION OF THE VARIABILITY IN MICROELECTRONIC CAPACITORS HAVING POLYCRYSTALLINE DIELECTRICS WITH COLUMNAR MICROSTRUCTURE BY

Increasing circuit densities drive the search for microelectronic capacitors with smaller areas. One solution which reduces capacitor size while leaving capacitance constant is to use a thin film of a high permittivity material such as Ta205, SrTiOy (STO), or (Ba,Sr)Ti03 (BST), whose dielectric constants are much higher than those of currently used dielectrics such as Si02 and Si3N1 One drawback of these dielectric films is that they have a polycrystalline microstructure and the permittivity and leakage current density depend on grain size and orientation. It is unknown how microstructure varia-tions will affect the variability and yield of devices incorporating these films. We hav