Electrical and morphological characterization of transfer-printed Au/Ti/TiO<i>x</i>/p+-Si nano- and microstructures with plasma-grown titanium oxide layers

Highly-ordered, sub-70 nm-MOS-junctions of Au/Ti/TiOx/p+-Si were efficiently and reliably fabricated by nanotransfer-printing (nTP) over large areas and their functionality was investigated with respect to their application as MOS-devices. First, we used a temperature-enhanced nTP process and integrated the plasma-oxidation of a nm-thin titanium film being e-beam evaporated directly on the stamp before the printing step without affecting the p+-Si substrate. Second, morphological investigations (scanning electron microscopy) of the nanostructures confirm the reliable transfer of Au/Ti/TiOx-pillars of 50 nm, 75 nm, and 100 nm size of superior quality on p+-Si by our transfer protocol. Third, the fabricated nanodevices are also characterized electrically by conductive AFM. Fourth, the results are compared to probe station measurements on identically processed, i.e., transfer-printed μm-MOS-structures including a systematic investigation of the oxide formation. The jV-characteristics of these MOS-junctions demonstrate the electrical functionality as plasma-grown tunneling oxides and the effectivity of the transfer-printing process for their large-scale fabrication. Next, our findings are supported by fits to the jV-curves of the plasma-grown titanium oxide by kinetic-Monte-Carlo simulations. These fits allowed us to determine the dominant conduction mechanisms, the material parameters of the oxides and, in particular, a calibration of the thickness depending on applied plasma time and power. Finally, also a relative dielectric permittivity of 12 was found for such plasma-grown TiOx-layers.