Insulating TaNx films were grown by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition using butylimido tris dimethylamido tantalum and N2+H2 mixed gas as metalorganic source and reactance gas, respectively. Crossbar devices having a Pt/TaNx/Pt stack were fabricated and their electrical properties were examined. The crossbar devices exhibited temperature-dependent nonlinear I (current) - V (voltage) characteristics in the temperature range of 90-300 K. Various electrical conduction mechanisms were adopted to understand the governing electrical conduction mechanism in the device. Among them, the Poole- Frenkel emission model, which uses a bulk-limited conduction mechanism, may successfully fit with the I - V characteristics of the devices with 5- and 18-nm-thick TaNx films. Values of ~0.4 eV of trap energy and ~20 of dielectric constant were extracted from the fitting. These results can be well explained by the amorphous micro-structure and point defects, such as oxygen substitution (ON) and interstitial nitrogen (Ni) in the TaNx films, which were revealed by transmission electron microscopy and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The nonlinear conduction characteristics of TaNx film can make this film useful as a selector device for a crossbar array of a resistive switching random access memory or a synaptic device.

Polyimide is a well-known organic dielectric material, which has not only high chemical and thermal stability but also good electrical insulating and mechanical properties. In this research, the electric conduction mechanism of PI Ultra-Thin Films was investigated at room temperature. At low electric field, ohmic conduction (I∝V) was observed and the calculated electrical conductivity was about 4.23×10-15~9.81×10-15 S/cm. At high electric field, nonohmic conduction (I∝V2) was observed and the conduction mechanism was explained by space charge limited region effect. The dielectric constant of PI Ultra-Thin Films was about 7.0.

본 연구에서는 도핑하지 않은 다이아몬드 박막에서의 전류전도 경로를 체계적으로 규명하고 다이아몬드 박막의 전도기구에 대해 조사하였다. 도핑되지 않은 다결정 다이아몬드 박막에서 두께와 측정방향에 따른 교류 임피던스법에 의해 측정된 저향값이 기존의 표면전도 모델과는 일치하지 안니하였다. 다이아몬드 박막에 구리를 전기도금한 결과 구리는 결정립계에만 불연속적으로 도금되었고 다이아몬드 박막 위에 은을 증착한 후 전지에칭을 한 결과 결정립계가 우선 에칭이 되어 전류가 결정립계를 통하여 흐름을 확인하였다. 또, 리본형 다이아몬드 박막의 표면을 절연층으로 형성시킨 후 박막 내부의 결정립계를 통하여 전류가 흘러 전기도금이 되는 것으로부터 다결정 다이아몬드 박막의 주요 전기전도 경로는 결정립계임을 확인하였다. 높은 전기전도도를 보여주는 다이아몬드 박막은 전도 활성화 에너지가 45meV 정도이었고 dangling bond 밀도는 낮았다. 그러나 산소 열처리나 수소플라즈마처리가 Si passivation 이론과는 반대로 dangling bond 밀도를 증가시키면서 전기전도성을 떨어뜨렸다. 이 결과들과 표면의 탄소화학결합을 연결시켜 높은 전도성을 야기시키는 결합은 H-C-C-H 결합임을 추론하였다.