Demonstration of scaled (>= 0.12 mu m(2)) Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 capacitors on W plugs with Al interconnect

The measured switched polarization properties of integrated Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 (P ZT) capacitors arrays have been found to show a small dependence on individ ual capacitor size in the range from 0.17 and 100 mum(2). These thin (90 nm ) PZT capacitors have low voltage switching properties with polarization sa turation of <1.8 V with switched polarization for the smallest capacitors ( 0.17 mum(2)) still larger than 25 muC/cm(2). The capacitor stack consisted of TiAlN hardmask/Ir/IrOx/PZT/Ir/TiAlN on either SiO2 dielectric or W plugs . The capacitor was patterned using 248 nm lithography and etched using onl y one mask. For wafers without W plugs, the Ir bottom electrode was not etc hed. For wafers with W plugs, the entire capacitor stack was etched and ele ctrical connection to the bottom electrode was through the W plugs. The cap acitors were integrated using SiO2 dielectrics and one level of Al metalliz ation. These data suggest that high-density, ferroelectric capacitor-based memories may be feasible. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.