Electrical Stability Improvement for Lanthanum Oxide Films by Nitrogen Incorporation using Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation

The effect of nitrogen implantation on thin lanthanum oxide (La
₂
O
₃
) films grown by e-beam evaporation are investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. The amount of nitrogen incorporation in the oxide film by plasma immersion ion-implantation (PII) is found to be quite low (about 3% near the surface). However, the introduction of nitrogen atoms into the La
₂
O
₃
network results in a significant reduction in the oxide traps and leads to a notable improvement in both material and electrical properties of the dielectric.