Electrical characterization of PbZr0.4Ti0.6O3 capacitors

Abstract

We have conducted a careful study of current-voltage $\left(I\text{-}V\right)$ characteristics in fully integrated commercial ${\text{PbZr}}_{0.4}{\text{Ti}}_{0.6}{\text{O}}_3$ thin-film capacitors with Pt bottom and $\text{Ir}∕{\text{IrO}}_2$ top electrodes. Highly reproducible steady-state $I\text{-}V$ were obtained at various temperatures over two decades in voltage from current-time data and analyzed in terms of several common transport models including space charge limited conduction, Schottky thermionic emission under full and partial depletion, and Poole-Frenkel conduction, showing that the latter is the most plausible leakage mechanism in these high-quality films. In addition, ferroelectric hysteresis loops and capacitance-voltage data were obtained over a large range of temperatures and discussed in terms of a modified Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire theory accounting for space charge effects.