Effects of interfacial states on electrical properties of SrBi2Ta2O9 thin films

Electrical properties of SrBi2Ta2O9 thin-film capacitors with Pt electrodes were characterized immediately and 24 h after top electrode annealing. The leakage current density decreased abruptly 24 h after annealing, whereas i t was very high, over 10(-4) A/cm(2) at 3 V, immediately after annealing. T he dielectric dispersion was observed immediately after annealing and becam e weaker with increasing stabilization time (the sustaining time in air aft er annealing is finished). It was found that the interface resistance incre ased and the quantity of metallic Bi at the interface decreased with increa sing stabilization time. This suggests that conducting phases may be transf ormed in to resistive phases due to the interaction of Bi and O atoms. It w as also observed that the imprint of SET capacitors was strongly dependent upon the initial poled state. The imprint property was improved as stabiliz ation proceeded and this may be due to the relative reduction of electronic carriers participating in the trapping/detrapping.