AbstractThin film capacitors with barium strontium titanate (BST) dielectric layers of 7.5 to 950 nm were fabricated by Pulsed Laser Deposition. XRD and EDX analyses confirmed a strongly oriented BST cubic perovskite phase with the desired cation stoichiometry. Room temperature frequency dispersion (ε100 kHz / ε100 Hz) for all capacitors was greater than 0.75. Absolute values for the dielectric constant were slightly lower than expected. This was attributed to the use of Au top electrodes since the same sample showed up to a threefold increase in dielectric constant when Pt was used in place of Au. Dielectric constant as a function of thicknesses greater than 70 nm, was fitted using the series capacitor model. The large interfacial parameter ratio di / εi of 0.40 ± 0.05 nm implied a significant dead-layer component within the capacitor structure. Modelled consideration of the dielectric behaviour for BST films, whose total thickness was below that of the dead layer, predicted anomalies in the plots of d/ ε against d at the dead layer thickness. For the SRO/BST/Au system studied, no anomaly was observed. Therefore, either (i) 7.5 nm is an upper limit for the total dead layer thickness in this system, or (ii) dielectric collapse is not associated with a distinct interfacial dead layer, and is instead due to a through-film effect.
Fluorescence-based method for estimating the dead layer thickness of a broad-energy germanium detector