快速退火对Pt/BST/Pt电容器结构和性能的影响

采用脉冲激光沉积(PLD)法在Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si(001)基片上制备了Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3(BST)薄膜,对Pt/BST/Pt电容器在空气中进行400℃快速退火(RTA)处理,研究了快速退火对Pt/BST/Pt电容器的结构和性能的影响。结果表明:快速退火虽然对BST薄膜的结晶质量影响较小,但却极大改善了Pt/BST/Pt电容器的电学性能。当测试频率为100kHz、直流偏压为0V时,介电损耗从快速退火前的0.07减小到0.03,介电常数和调谐率略有增加。快速退火后负向漏电流过大现象得到了明显抑制,正负向漏电流趋于对称,在300×103V/cm电场强度下,漏电流密度为4.83×10–5A/cm2。     

宽带双周期性BST电容加载共面波导移相器

提出了一种双周期性BST电容加载共面波导传输线的移相器结构。基于这种结构设计制作的铁电薄膜移相器较好地解决了整个电路的阻抗匹配问题,其反射损耗的波纹在较宽的工作频带内趋于同一幅度。在沉积有钛酸锶钡(BST)薄膜的氧化镁基片上设计并制作了一个宽带双周期性BST叉指电容加载共面波导移相器,测试结果显示该移相器的反射损耗在0~15GHz内保持在–15dB,其中在14.5GHz处,在30V的外加偏压下其移相能力可达35o。     

Integration of microwave phase shifter with BST varactor onto TiO/sub 2//Si wafer

A BST ferroelectric thin-film microwave phase shifter with interdigital capacitors on TiO₂/Si substrate is presented. The interdigital capacitors have 230 mum signal width, 100 mum signal to ground gap, and 10 mum finger gap. The device, with phase shifts of 142deg and FoM of 107.3deg/dB applied voltage of 50 V at 16 GHz, has been realised. The TiO₂ buffer layer grown by ALD enables successful integration of BST-based microwave tunable devices with Si wafer.     

Tunable barium strontium titanate thin film capacitors for RF andmicrowave applications

The measurement results for thin film barium strontium titanate (BST) based voltage tunable capacitors intended for RF applications are reported. At 9 V DC, BST capacitors fabricated using MOCVD (metalorganic chemical vapor deposition) method achieved 71% (3.4:1) tunability. The measured device quality factor (Q) for BST varactors is comparable with the device Q for commercially available varactor diodes of similar capacitance. The typical dielectric loss tangent was in the range 0.003-0.009 at VHF. Large signal measurement and modeling results for BST thin film capacitors are also presented     

A Ka-Band Electronically Tunable Ferroelectric Filter

This letter presents a three-pole tunable Ka-band coplanar filter that includes six high-Q BST ferroelectric capacitors. It tunes from 29 GHz up to 34 GHz (17%) with low bias voltages ranging from 0 V to 30 V. The filter has fractional bandwidths of 9.5–12.2%. It has a good insertion loss for this category of Ka-band ferroelectric filters, which is between 6.9 dB (0 V) and 2.5 dB (30 V). Two tone measurements showed that the filter has a minimum OIP3 of 15 dBm between 0 V and 30 V. The highest OIP3 value is 26 dBm achieved at a dc bias of 30 V.      

Thermal-sensitive BST thin film capacitors for dielectric bolometer prepared by RF magnetron sputtering

We have been developing a monolithic microbolometer technology for uncooled infrared focal plane arrays (Uncooled IRFPAs) along the route from fabricating pixels of thin-film dielectric bolometers on micromachined silicon substrates. In the paper, the thermal-sensitive barium strontium titanate (BST) thin film capacitors for that objective prepared by Radio-Frequency Magnetron sputtering have been investigated focusing on the condition of fabrication of BST thin films. Capacitor-Temperature properties of the thermal-sensitive BST thin film capacitors have been measured with impedance analyzer. According to the Capacitor-temperature curves, these indicated that the temperature coefficient of dielectric constant (TCD) within the ambient temperature region highly depended on the Radio-Frequency Magnetron sputtering condition of fabrication of BST thin films. BST thin film capacitors with TCD-value more than 21%/K have been prepared on the optimized condition. That is a good base for preparation of dielectric bolometer mode of uncooled IRFPAs.     

Characterization of the Field-Dependent Permittivity of Nonlinear Ferroelectric Films Using Tunable Coplanar Lines

This letter demonstrates a scheme to characterize very precisely the field-dependent permittivity of nonlinear ferroelectric films using inhomogeneously tuned coplanar transmission lines. For the characterization, tunable coplanar waveguides on a screen-printed Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ (BST) thick film are realized and measured at radiofrequencies to determine the geometry-dependent tunability of the capacitance per unit length C'. To characterize the nonlinear tunability of the BST-thick film, these C'-values are compared with capacitance values simulated by the finite-difference time-domain method. Avoiding numerical instabilities of the iterative extraction procedure, the convergence of the extracted tunability is validated by three distinct geometries on the same BST substrate. The extracted tunability of the BST-thick film is 67% for an electric field-strength of 20V/mum. The precise knowledge of the field-dependent permittivity enables a distinct tunability optimization of frequency-agile radio frequency devices based on nonlinear ferroelectric films     

一种新偏压结构的BST电容梳状滤波器设计

介绍了一种五阶可调抽头式梳状线滤波器,设计采用共面方式接地,使用Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (BST)铁电薄膜平板电容作为可调部件,并分析了平板电容结构的影响.针对梳状电调滤波器需单阶加压和外接大电阻繁琐的情况,提出利用集成在衬底上的大容量BST电容作为隔离电容,将各阶谐振器的偏压线互连来简化加压过程.运用高频电磁仿真软件HFSS进行验证,设计出的滤波器中心频率可调范围为842～960 MHz(14％),3 dB带宽为9％～10％.     

Frequency Tunable Microstrip Patch Antenna Using RF MEMS Technology

A novel reconfigurable microstrip patch antenna is presented that is monolithically integrated with RF microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capacitors for tuning the resonant frequency. Reconfigurability of the operating frequency of the microstrip patch antenna is achieved by loading it with a coplanar waveguide (CPW) stub on which variable MEMS capacitors are placed periodically. MEMS capacitors are implemented with surface micromachining technology, where a 1-mum thick aluminum structural layer is placed on a glass substrate with a capacitive gap of 1.5 mum. MEMS capacitors are electrostatically actuated with a low tuning voltage in the range of 0-11.9 V. The antenna resonant frequency can continuously be shifted from 16.05 GHz down to 15.75 GHz as the actuation voltage is increased from 0 to 11.9 V. These measurement results are in good agreement with the simulation results obtained with Ansoft HFSS. The radiation pattern is not affected from the bias voltage. This is the first monolithic frequency tunable microstrip patch antenna where a CPW stub loaded with MEMS capacitors is used as a variable load operating at low dc voltages     

BST铁电薄膜的制备及介电性能研究

通过射频磁控溅射法,采用高温溅射、低温溅射高温退火两种不同的工艺制备了钛酸锶钡(BST)薄膜。分析两种不同的工艺对BST薄膜的结构、微观形貌及介电性能的影响。采用X线衍射(XRD)分析了样品的微观结构。采用扫描电镜(SEM)和台阶仪分别测试了样品的微观形貌和表面轮廓。通过能谱分析(EDS)得到了薄膜均一性的情况。最后通过电容-电压(C-V)曲线测试得到BST薄膜的介电常数偏压特性。结果表明,与低温溅射高温退火工艺制备的BST薄膜相比,高温溅射制备的BST薄膜结晶度好,致密性高,表面光滑,薄膜成分分布较均一。因此,采用高温溅射得到的BST薄膜性能较好。在频率300 kHz时,采用高温溅射制备的BST薄膜介电常数为127.5～82.0,可调谐率为23.86%～27.9%。     

Ba_(0.5)Sr_(0.5)TiO_3薄膜电容的尺寸效应研究

采用射频磁控溅射和微细加工技术制备了不同尺寸的钛酸锶钡(Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3,BST)平行板电容,研究了低频和高频条件下不同尺寸BST平行板电容的电容密度和Q值的变化情况。结果表明,由于存在边缘效应,BST薄膜电容的电容密度及Q值都具有尺寸效应。低频时,随着电容面积增大,电容密度减小,Q值增大。高频时,随着电容面积增大,电容密度及Q值减小。     

Pentacene thin-film transistors with sol-gel derived amorphous Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 gate dielectric

An amorphous Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ (BST) film with the thickness of 200 nm was deposited on indium-tin-oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate through sol-gel route and post-annealing at 500 °C. The dielectric constant of the BST film was determined to be 20.6 at 100 kHz by measuring the Ag/BST/ITO parallel plate capacitor, and no dielectric tunability was observed with the bias voltage varying from −5 to 5 V. The BST film shows a dense and uniform microstructure as well as a smooth surface with the root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of about 1.4 nm. The leakage current density was found to be 3.5 × 10⁻⁸ A/cm² at an applied voltage of −5 V. The transmittance of the BST/ITO/glass structure is more than 70% in the visible region. Pentacene based transistor using the as-prepared BST film as gate insulator exhibits a low threshold voltage of −1.3 V, the saturation field-effect mobility of 0.68 cm²/Vs, and the current on/off ratio of 3.6 × 10⁵. The results indicate that the sol-gel derived BST film is a promising high-k gate dielectric for large-area transparent organic transistor arrays on glass substrate.     

新型BST薄膜可调带阻滤波器

提出了一种基于共面传输线结构的新型带阻滤波器,利用该结构在沉积有钛酸锶钡(BST—0.5)薄膜的氧化镁基片上设计并制作了一个可调带阻滤波器。测试结果表明,在30V的外加偏压下,带阻滤波器的传输特性曲线向高频方向整体移动了190MHz,其形状基本保持不变。     

Thermo-Sensitive Ba0.64Sr0.36TiO3 Thin Film Capacitors for Dielectric Type Uncooled Infrared Sensors

Ba_0.64Sr_0.36TiO₃ (BST) thin films are prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si₃N₄/SiO₂/Si substrates by a sol-gel method. Thermo-sensitive BST thin film capacitors with a Metal-Ferroelectrics-Metal (M-F(BST)-M) structure are fabricated as the active elements of dielectric type uncooled infrared sensors. XRD are employed to analyze the crystallographic structures of the films. AFM observations reveal a smooth and dense surface of the films with an average grain size of about 35 nm. Rapid temperature annealing (RTA) process is a very efficient way to improve crystallization quality. The preferable annealing temperature is 800°C for 1 min. The butterfly shaped C-V curves of the capacitors indicate the films have a ferroelectric nature. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the films at 100 kHz are 450 and 0.038, respectively. At 25°C, where the thermo-sensitive capacitors work, the temperature coefficient of dielectric constant (TCD) is about 5.9 %/°C. These results indicate that the capacitors with sol-gel derived BST thin films are promising to develop dielectric type uncooled infrared sensors.     

Integration of Ba/sub x/Sr/sub 1-x/TiO/sub 3/ thin films with AlGaN/GaN HEMT circuits

Ba/sub x/Sr/sub 1-x/TiO/sub 3/ (BST) thin films have large dielectric constants that can be varied by as much as a factor of 3 with an applied field, making them attractive for radio frequency (RF) circuits as small-area ac bypass/dc blocking capacitors, or high-power varactors. However, BST must be deposited at relatively high temperatures in an oxidizing environment, presenting significant integration challenges for MMIC applications. This letter describes the successful integration of BST films on AlGaN/GaN high electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) monolithic microwave integrated circuits on sapphire substrates. A sacrificial SiO/sub 2/ buffer layer is used to protect the underlying AlGaN during the RF magnetron sputtering of the BST film at an elevated temperature, with a carefully controlled heater ramp rate to avoid degradation of the ohmic contacts on the HEMT.     

Electrical properties of sputtered (Ba, Sr)TiO3 thin films prepared by two-step deposition method

The influence of two-step deposition on the electrical properties of sputtered (Ba,Sr)TiO₃ thin films was investigated. BST thin films with thickness 40 nm were deposited by a simple two-step radio frequency-magnetron sputtering technique, where the BST thin film consisted of a seed layer and a main layer. The dielectric constant was strongly dependent on the thickness of seed layer, but there was no dependence on deposition temperature of the seed layer. For a 2 nm seed layer, the dielectric constants were higher by about 29% than those of single-step BST thin films due to higher crystallinity and the leakage current was nearly the same as that of a single-step sample in bias voltage from −2 to 2.5 V. However, an improvement of the dielectric constant was not observed for samples having above 4 nm thick seed layers. A 40 nm thick BST film with 2 nm thick seed layer deposited by a two-step method exhibited a SiO₂ equivalent thickness of 0.385 nm and a leakage current density of 2.74 × 10⁻⁸A/cm²at+1.5V after post-annealing under an atmosphere of flowing N₂ for 30 min at 750°C.     

Electrically Programmable Bistable Capacitor for High‐Frequency Applications Based on Charge Storage at the (Ba,Sr)TiO3/Al2O3 Interface

Hysteresis is induced in paraelectric (Ba,Sr)TiO₃ (BST) thin‐film capacitors by inserting an Al₂O₃ barrier layer of a few nanometers in thickness between the BST layer and the electrode. The observed hysteresis is explained by ambipolar charge carrier injection through the Al₂O₃ layer and charge storage at the BST/Al₂O₃ interface. The magnitude of the hysteresis can be directly adjusted by manipulating the thickness ratio between BST and Al₂O₃. Taking into account the low loss of (Ba,Sr)TiO₃ capacitors, the observed switching and retention characteristics are suitable for application as non‐volatile programmable high‐frequency devices, e.g., in radio‐frequency identification.     

$hboxBaSm_2hboxTi_4hboxO_12$Thin Film for High-Performance Metal–Insulator–Metal Capacitors

A high capacitance density of 4.84$hboxfF/muhboxm^2$and a low leakage current density of 4.28 fA/pF$cdot$V were obtained for a 138-nm-thick crystalline$hboxBaSm_2hboxTi_4hboxO_12$(BST) film. The 100-nm-thick amorphous BST film exhibited a high capacitance density of 3.91$hboxfF/muhboxm^2$and a low leakage current of 1.24 fA/pF$cdot$V. The crystalline BST film had quadratic and linear voltage coefficient of capacitance (VCC) of$-hbox295 hboxppm/V^2$and 684 ppm/V, respectively, and a temperature coefficient of capacitance (TCC) of$-hbox136 hboxppm/^circhboxC$at 100 kHz. The amorphous BST film also showed quadratic and linear VCCs of 48.6$hboxppm/V^2$and$-$738 ppm/V, respectively, with a low TCC of 169$hboxppm/^circhboxC$at 100 kHz.     

Microstructure and electrical characteristics of Ba0.65Sr0.35TiO3 thin films etched in CF4/Ar/O2 plasma

Radio frequency magnetron sputtered Ba_0.65Sr_0.35TiO₃ (BST) thin films were etched in CF₄/Ar/O₂ plasma by magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching technique. The etching characteristics of BST films were characterized in terms of microstructure and electrical properties. Atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction results indicate that the microstructure of the etched BST film is degraded because of the rugged surface and lowered intensities of BST (1 0 0), (1 1 0), (1 1 1) and (2 0 0) peaks compared to the unetched counterparts. Dielectric constant and dielectric dissipation of the unetched, etched and postannealed-after-etched BST film capacitors are 419, 346, 371, 0.018, 0.039 and 0.031 at 100 kHz, respectively. The corresponding dielectric tunability, figure of merit and remnant polarization are 19.57%, 11.56%, 17.25%, 10.87, 2.96, 5.56, 3.62 μC/cm², 2.32 and 2.81 μC/cm² at 25 V, respectively. The leakage current density of 1.75 × 10⁻⁴ A/cm² at 15 V for the etched BST capacitor is over two orders of magnitude higher than 1.28 × 10⁻⁶ A/cm² for the unetched capacitor, while leakage current density of the postannealed-after-etched capacitor decreases slightly. It means that the electrical properties of the etched BST film are deteriorated due to the CF₄/Ar/O₂ plasma-induced damage. Furthermore, the damage is alleviated, and the degraded microstructure and electrical properties are partially recovered after the etched BST film is postannealed at 923 K for 20 min under a flowing O₂ ambience.     

基于BST可变电容的电调微带天线研究

采用BaxSr1–xTiO3(BST)可变电容作为调谐元件研制了一种工作频率可调的电调谐微带天线。该天线通过利用单片机控制电源单元输出不同的偏置电压来改变BST可变电容的电容大小,进而实现工作频点的调整。结果表明,当电源输出偏压在0-52 V变化时,该微带天线的工作频点可在1.47-1.61 GHz调节,回波损耗低于–15 dB。