DESIGN, FABRICATION AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF TEMPERATURE STABLE PERFORMANCE CONSISTENT TUNABLE DEVICES

Authors: COLE, M.W.; HIRSCH, S.; NGO, E.; HUBBARD, C.

Source: Integrated Ferroelectrics, Volume 101, Number 1, 2008 , pp. 182-194(13)

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Abstract:

The premier candidate active material for tunable microwave phase shifter devices is single composition, paraelectric BaSrTiO3 (BST). However, there is concern that in practical applications the device performance will be compromised due to the temperature dependence of the BST based device capacitance. We report a device design which controls the magnitude and the sign of the temperature coefficient of capacitance (TCC) via a multilayer paraelectric BST/buffer layer/ferroelectric BST coplanar device structure. To realize this multilayer device structure we have designed, fabricated, and optimized a 10 mol% Al doped Ta2O5 barrier layer with low loss (tan δ = 0.004), moderate permittivity (εr = 42.8), low TCC (-20 ppm/°C), and a low bias stability of capacitance (0.4%). The thin film integration of the barrier layer with the BST layers was optimized for structure, microstructure, interfacial/surface morphology, and dielectric properties as a function of Al doping concentration, annealing temperature, material growth and integration process parameters.

Keywords: temperature stable phase shifter device; dielectric properties; device integration

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10584580802470991

Affiliations: 1: U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Weapons and Materials Research Directorate, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA

Publication date: 2008-01-01

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