Temperature dependence of the tunnel-emission conduction current in metal-ZrO2-silicon capacitor structures

[[abstract]]© 2006 Electrochemical Society-Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) is considered as a potential replacement for SiO2 due to its high dielectric constant. The Al/ZrO2/p-Si metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors were fabricated. The electrical conduction mechanism in zirconium oxide (ZrO2) thin films as a function of temperature T and electric field E was studied. The temperatures measured were 77 K and from 300 to 450 K. With the Al electrode under negative bias, the conduction mechanism in the electric field of 2.3 MV/cm<E<5 MV/cm and at the temperature 77 K is found to be Fowler-Nordheim tunneling emission. The extracted barrier height between Al and ZrO2 is 1.12 eV. At the electric field of 1.5 MV/cm<E<4 MV/cm and temperatures of 300 K<T