• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.478-483
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• 2003

The crystallographic characteristics of the $(Bi, La)_4$$Ti_3$$O_{12}$ thin film, which is considered as an applicable dielectrics in the ferroelectric RAM device due to a low crystallization temperature and a good fatigue property, were investigated at the atomic scale by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and the high resolution Z-contrast technique. The analysis showed that a (00c) preferred orientation and a crystallization of the film were enhanced with the diffraction intensity increase of the (006) and (008) plane as the annealing temperature increased. It indicated a change of the atomic arrangement in the (00c) plane. Stacking faults on the (00c) plane were also observed. Through the comparison of the high-resolution Z-contrast image and the $Bi_4$$Ti_3$$O_{12}$ atomic model, it was evaluated that the intensity of the Bi atom was different according to the atomic plane, and it was attributed to a substitution of La atom for Bi at the specific atom position.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.219-223
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• 2005

A promising capacitor, which has conformable step coverage and good uniformity of thickness and composition, is needed to manufacture high-density non-volatile FeRAM capacitors with a stacked cell structure. In this study, ferroelectric $Bi_{3.61}Nd_{0.39}Ti_3O_{12}$ (BNdT) thin films were prepared on $Pt(111)/TiO_2/SiO_2/Si$ substrates by the liquid delivery system MOCVD method. In these experiments, $Bi(ph)_{3}$, $Nd(TMHD)\_{3}$ and $Ti(O^iPr)_{2}(TMHD)_{2}$ were used as the precursors and were dissolved in n-butyl acetate. The BNdT thin films were deposited at a substrate temperature and reactor pressure of approximately $600^{\circ}C$ and 4.8 Torr, respectively. The microstructure of the layered perovskite phase was observed by XRD and SEM. The remanent polarization value (2Pr) of the BNdT thin film was $31.67\;{\mu}C/cm^{2}$ at an applied voltage of 5 V.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.07c
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• pp.1835-1837
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• 2005

$Bi_{3.25}Y_{0.75}Ti_3O_{12}$[BYT] ferroelectric thin films were deposited by RF-Sputtering method on the $Pt/Ti/SiO_2/Si$. We investigated the effects of processing condition (especially post-annealing) on the structural and dielectric properties of the BYT thin films. The BYT thin films were crystallized well at annealing temperature of $750^{\circ}C$ for 30min. Increasing the annealing temperature, the peak intensity of (117) and c-axis orientation were increased. The calculated lattice constants of BYT thin films were a=0.539nm, b=0.536nm, c=3.288nm. The thickness of the BYT thin films were 350nm. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss at a frequency of 100KHz were 73.3 and 0.021, respectively. The BYT thin films can be used as capacitors in the Ferroelectric Random Access Memory device.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.403-406
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• 2007

Ferroelectric Ce-doped $Bi_4Ti_3O_{12}$ (BCT) thin films were deposited by liquid delivery metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) onto a $Pt(111)/Ti/SiO_2/Si(100)$ substrate. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to identify the crystal structure, the surface, and the cross-section morphology of the deposited ferroelectric flims. After annealing above $640^{\circ}C$, the BCT films exhibited a polycrystalline structure with preferred (001) and (117) orientations. The BCT lam capacitor with a top Pt electrode showed a large remnant polarization ($2P_r$) of $44.56{\mu}C/cm^2$ at an applied voltage of 5 V and exhibited fatigue-free behavior up to $1.0{\times}10^{11}$ switching cycles at a frequency of 1 MHz. This study clearly reveals that BCT thin film has potential for application in non-volatile ferroelectric random access memories and dynamic random access memories.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.1178-1188
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• 1995

Bi4Ti3O12 (BIT) and its rare earth (Y, Nd, Sm, Gd)-substituted derivatives were synthesized using a sol-gel method to investigate their microstructures, cystal structures and electrical properties depending on the subsituted elemetns. Nd- or Sm-substitution into BIT appeared to be favorable, while Y- or Gd-substitution occurred with a pyrochlore phase. This suggests that a smaller trivalent rare earth ion may not be favorable in the structure of BIT. The rare earth derivatives showed that their particle sizes and shapes were considerably different depending on the kinds of substituted elements. Y-substitution resulted in developing a relatively even particle size and a dense microstructure. In structure, they may be similar to the pseudo-orthorhombic BIT but close to a paraelectric tetragonal phase. Their a (or b) axes were shortened, compared to the one of BIT. Such a distortion may result a decrease in the tilting of TiO6. BIT and the derivatives showed that their dielectric constants and losses were 40~120 and less than 0.03, respectively in the frequency range of 1~10 MHz. The dielectric loss of Y-substituted derivative was the lowest one and changed a little to frequency. Curie points were observed in all the derivatives like BIT to suggest that they would be ferroelectric. The temperature stability of the delectric properties of the derivatives below the Curie points were relatively better than the one of BIT.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.290-291
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• 2006

The effect of praseodymium substitution on the ferroelectric properties of $Bi_4Ti_3O_{12}$ thin films have been investigated. Ferroelectric Pr-substituted $Bi_4Ti_3O_{12}$ thin films were fabricated by chemical solution deposition onto Pt/Ti/$SiO_2$/Si substrates. The structure and morphology of the films were analyzed using Xray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. About 200-nm-thick BPT films grown at $720^{\circ}C$ exhibited a polycrystalline structure and showed excellent ferroelectric properties with a remanent polarization ($2P_r$) of $28.21\;{\mu}C/cm^2$ at an applied voltage of 5 V. The films a1so demonstrate fatigue-free behavior up to $10^{11}$ read/write switching cycles with 1 MHz bipolar pulses at an electric field of ${\pm}5\;V$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.341-342
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• 2006

Gadolinium-substituted bismuth titanate, $Bi_{3.3}Gd_{0.7}Ti_3O_{12}$ (BGT), thin films were successfully fabricated on Pt(111)/Ti/$SiO_2$/Si substrates by a sol-gel method and their structural and ferroelectric properties have been characterized. Fabricated BGT thin films were found to be random orientations, which were confirmed by X-ray diffraction experiment and scanning electron microscope analysis. The remanent polarization ($2P_r$)) of BGT thin film annealed at $720^{\circ}C$ was $25.85\;{\mu}C/cm^2$ at an applied voltage of 5 V. The BGT thin films exhibited a 11 % reduction in their switching charge after no less than $10^{11}$ switching cycles at a frequency of 1 MHz.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.258-261
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• 2011

A ferroelectric $(Bi,La)_4Ti_3O_{12}$ (BLT) thin film fabricated by the pulsed-DC sputtering method was evaluated on a cell structure to check its compatibility to high density ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) devices. The BLT composition in the sputtering target was $Bi_{4.8}La_{1.0}Ti_{3.0}O_{12}$. Firstly, a BLT film was deposited on a buried Pt/$IrO_x$/Ir bottom electrode stack with W-plug connected to the transistor in a lower place. Then, the film was finally crystallized at $700^{\circ}C$ for 30 seconds in oxygen ambient. The annealed BLT layer was found to have randomly oriented and small ellipsoidal-shaped grains (long direction: ~100 nm, short direction: ~20 nm). The small and uniform-sized grains with random orientations were considered to be suitable for high density FeRAM devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.296-296
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• 2007

Ferroelectric neodymium-substituted $Bi_4Ti_3O_{12}$(BTO) thin films have been successfully deposited on Pt/Ti/$SiO_2$/Si substrate by a sol-gel spin-coating process and the effect of crystallization temperature on their microstructure and ferroelectric properties were studied systematically. $Bi(TMHD)_3$, $Nd(TMHD)_3$, $Ti(O^iPr)_4$ were used as the precursors, which were dissolved in 2-methoxyethanol. The thin films were annealed at various temperatures from 600 to $720^{\circ}C$ in oxygen ambient for 1 hr, which was followed by post-annealed for 1 hr after depositing a Pt electrode to enhance the electrical properties. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to analyze the crystallinity and surface morphology of layered perovskite phase, respectively. The crystallinity of the BNT films was improved and the average grain size increased as the crystallization temperature increased from 600 to $720^{\circ}C$ at an interval of $40^{\circ}C$. The polarization values of the films were a monotonous function of the crystallization temperature. The remanent polarization value of the BNT thin films annealed at $720^{\circ}C$ was $24.82\;{\mu}C/cm^2$ at an applied voltage of 5 V.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.276-277
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• 2006

1mm-thick BLT ceramics were sintered in accordance with a bulk ceramic fabrication process. AII XRD peaks detected in the sintered ceramics were indexed as the Bi-layered perovskite structure without secondary phases. Density was increased with increasing the sintering temperature up to $1050^{\circ}C$ and the maximum value was about 98% of the theoretical density. The remanent polarization (2Pr) value of BLT ceramic sintered at $1050^{\circ}C$ was approximately $6.5\;{\mu}C/cm^2$ at the applied voltage of 4.5 kV. The calculated electromechanical coupling factor ($k_t$) of it was about 5% and the mechanical quality factor (Qm) was about 2200. From these results, a BLT ceramic target for pulsed laser deposition (PLD) system was successfully fabricated.