Structure and electrical characteristics of RF magnetron sputtered MgTiO₃

The crystal structure and dielectric properties of MgTiO₃ films were investigated. In this article, MgTiO₃ thin films were fabricated on n-type Si(100) substrates by reactive RF magnetron sputtering at various Ar/O₂ mixing rations (100/0, 90/10, 80/ 20, 70/30), substrate temperatures (200 °C, 300 °C and 400 °C), at a RF power of 400 W and sputtering times (from 1 to 3 h). It was possible to obtain highly oriented MgTiO₃ (110) thin film at a RF power of 400 W and substrate temperature of 200 °C, 300 °C and 400 °C, Ar/O₂ rations (100/0, 90/10, 80/20) for 2 h, which is much lower than the bulk sintering temperature. These films were studied by choosing an RF of 400 W and various substrate temperatures. The microstructure and surface morphology of the MgTiO₃ films deposited on n-Si(100) was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The XRD showed that the deposited films exhibited a polycrystalline microstructure. The grain size of the film increased with substrate temperature. The electrical properties were measured using C-V and current-voltage I-V measurements on metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitor structures. As RF power of 400 W and substrate temperature of 400 °C, dielectric constant is 16.2 (f = 10 MHz).