Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
A new electrode barrier structure based on noble metals Pt and Ir alloys and their oxides was proposed for the integration of PZT capacitors into high density nonvolatile memories. The proposed PtIrOx/PtIr/PtIrOx structure with Pt rich compositions (∼90%) is an excellent conducting electrode for the ferroelectric capacitor and a very good diffusion barrier for species like oxygen and Si. These structures are thermally stable up to the PZT processing temperatures of 650°C. PZT deposited on these electrodes crystallized predominantly in pervoskite phase. The test capacitors showed well saturated hysteresis loops with Pr and Ec of 21.3 µC/cm2 and 43 kV/cm, respectively. An extremely low polarization fatigue of 3% after 1× 1011 repetitions and leakage currents close to those on Pt were observed.