Lanthanum oxide nanostructured films synthesized using hot dense and extremely non-equilibrium plasma for nanoelectronic device applications

Lanthanum oxide (La₂O₃) nanostructured films are synthesized on a p-type silicon wafer by ablation of La₂O₃ pellet due to interaction with hot dense argon plasmas in a modified dense plasma focus (DPF) device. The nanostructured films are investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra. SEM study shows the formation of nano-films having nano-size structures with the average nanostructures size ~25, ~53, and ~45 nm for one, two, and three DPF shots, respectively. The nanostructures sizes and morphology of nano-films are consistent between the AFM and SEM analyses. XRD spectra confirms nano-sized La₂O₃ with an average grain size ~34, ~51, and ~42 nm for one, two, and three DPF shots, respectively. The electrical properties such as current–voltage and capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics of the Al–La₂O₃–Si metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) capacitor structure are measured. The current conduction mechanism of the MOS capacitors is also demonstrated. The C–V characteristics are further used to obtain the electrical parameters such as the dielectric constant, oxide thickness, flat-band capacitance, and flat-band voltage of the MOS capacitors. These measurements demonstrate significantly lower leakage currents without any commonly used annealing or doping, thereby revealing a significant improvement of the MOS nanoelectronic device performance due to the incorporation of the DPF-produced La₂O₃ nano-films.