INSULATING FILM, METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME, AND SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE
First Claim
1. An insulating film comprising:
- two zirconium oxide layers in crystallized state; and
an intergranular isolating layer composed of an amorphous material having a dielectric constant higher than that of zirconium oxide in crystallized state;
wherein the intergranular isolating layer is sandwiched between the two zirconium oxide layers.
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Abstract
An exemplary aspect of the invention provides an insulating film which has a high dielectric constant and has small leakage current even when it is sandwiched between electrodes. The insulating film comprises two zirconium oxide layers in crystallized state; and an intergranular isolating layer composed of an amorphous material having a dielectric constant higher than that of zirconium oxide in crystallized state; wherein the intergranular isolating layer is sandwiched between the two zirconium oxide layers. The insulating film is properly used as a capacitive insulating film in a semiconductor device comprising a memory cell including a capacitor element having the capacitive insulating film between an upper electrode and a lower electrode, or as an intergate insulating film in a semiconductor device comprising a nonvolatile memory device having the intergate insulating film between a control gate electrode and a floating gate electrode.
335 Citations
19 Claims
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1. An insulating film comprising:
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two zirconium oxide layers in crystallized state; and an intergranular isolating layer composed of an amorphous material having a dielectric constant higher than that of zirconium oxide in crystallized state; wherein the intergranular isolating layer is sandwiched between the two zirconium oxide layers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An insulating film comprising:
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three zirconium oxide layers in crystallized state; and two intergranular isolating layers composed of an amorphous material having a dielectric constant higher than that of zirconium oxide in crystallized state; wherein each of the intergranular isolating layers is sandwiched between two of the three zirconium oxide layers. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A method of manufacturing an insulating film, comprising:
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forming a first zirconium oxide layer in amorphous state; forming an intergranular isolating layer in amorphous state on the first zirconium oxide layer; forming a second zirconium oxide layer in amorphous state on the intergranular isolating layer; and annealing a stack of layers including the first and the second zirconium oxide layers and the intergranular isolating layer to crystallize zirconium oxide in amorphous state in the first and second zirconium oxide layers, wherein after the annealing has been performed, the intergranular isolating layer is in amorphous state, and the intergranular isolating layer has a dielectric constant higher than that of zirconium oxide in crystallized state in the first and the second zirconium oxide layers. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification