A strategy for increasing the breakdown field strength beyond the experimental scaling law in yttria films

Abstract

Aiming to increase the dielectric breakdown field strength (E_bf) of yttria films for application in semiconductor manufacturing, a synthetic strategy based on photo-assisted chemical solution deposition was developed to prepare yttria films with aggregates of very small nanocrystallites. Despite containing many elliptical pores, the films exhibited an E_bf exceeding 12.7 MV cm⁻¹, much higher than that predicted according to conventional experimental scaling laws. The combination of nanocrystallite agglomerates and elliptical pores, generally seen as defects, provides a new strategy for increasing the E_bf.