HfO/sub 2/ and lanthanide-doped HfO/sub 2/ MIM capacitors for RF/mixed IC applications

We demonstrate high quality HfO/sub 2/-metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors with a high capacitance of 4.7 fF/cm/sup 2/ and a leakage current density of less than 10/sup -8/ A/cm/sup 2/, meeting ITRS requirement for analog precision capacitor applications. In addition, we demonstrate that doping HfO/sub 2/ with Lanthanide (Tb) at an optimum concentration improves both voltage linearity and leakage current density of HfO/sub 2/ MIM capacitor, allowing further reduction of insulator thickness and achieving a capacitance density of 13.3 fF//spl mu/m/sup 2/ with leakage current meeting requirements for RF bypass capacitors applications. These values are superior to that reported in the literature, suggesting the potential use of these dielectrics for future RF/mixed signal IC applications.