Fabrication Process of Sol-Gel Spin Coating for SrBi₂Ta₂O₉ Films Applied to FeRAM

We investigate SrBi₂Ta₂O₉ (SBT) films prepared by the sol-gel spin method with different spin rates or different anneal conditions for the first layer of SBT, as promising ferroelectric layer materials applied to ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM). All the specimens in this experiment have similar SBT crystal orientations of (115), (020), (220), and (135). The Pt/SBT/Pt capacitor with coating of 3000rpm spin rate has a perfect rectangle shape of hysteresis loops, remanent polarization of 7.57μC/cm² and coercive voltage of 0.816V at 5V voltage amplitude. These characteristics are better than those with coating of 3500rpm spin rate, which is attributed to the influence for thickness and grain size of the film from depressed spin rate. Slow-rate anneal in the furnace for the first layer of SBT can improve the crystallization processes and properties for SBT layers slightly, compared with rapid thermal annealing. The ion damage from etching for the top electrode can influence leakage current characteristics of the Pt/SBT/Pt capacitor at positive voltage bias.