Electrical characteristics and conduction mechanisms of amorphous subnanometric Al2O3–TiO2 laminate dielectrics deposited by atomic layer deposition

Electric conduction mechanisms of amorphous Al2O3/TiO2 (ATO)-laminates deposited by atomic layer deposition with sub-nanometer individual layer thicknesses were studied in a large temperature range. Two characteristic field regions are identified. In the low field region (E ≤ 0.31 MV/cm), the leakage current is dominated by the trap-assisted tunneling through oxygen vacancies occurring in the TiO2, while in the high electric field region (E > 0.31 MV/cm) the Poole Frenkel (PF) hopping is the appropriate conduction process with energy levels depending on the temperature and the electric field. It is shown that the PF potential levels decrease with the applied ATO field due to the overlapping of the Coulomb potential. Amorphous ATO-laminates show the presence of two intrinsic potential energy levels ϕi, which are 0.18 eV for low temperature region and 0.4 eV at high temperature region. Oxygen vacancies are the main origin of traps, which is consistent with the principal mechanisms for leakage in ATO-laminates.