Notwithstanding its excellent properties such as high work function and low resistance, Ru has not been widely applied in the preparation of electrodes for various electronic devices. This is because of the occurrence of severe morphological degradation in the actual devices employing Ru. Herein, we investigated Ru chemistry for electrode application and the degradation mechanism of Ru during subsequent processes such as thin film deposition or thermal annealing. We revealed that subsurface oxygen induces Ru degradation owing to the alteration of Ru chemistry by the pretreatment under various gas ambient conditions and due to the growth behavior of TiO2 deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD). The degradation of Ru is successfully ameliorated by conducting an appropriate pretreatment prior to ALD. The TiO2 thin film deposited on the pretreated Ru electrode exhibited a rutile-phased crystal structure and smooth surface morphology, thereby resulting in excellent electrical properties. This paper presents an important development in the application of Ru as the electrode that can facilitate the development of various next-generation electronic devices.

中文翻译：

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钌作为金属-绝缘体-金属电容器应用电极的化学

尽管Ru具有高功函数和低电阻等优异特性，但尚未广泛应用于制备各种电子器件的电极。这是因为在使用 Ru 的实际器件中发生了严重的形态退化。在此，我们研究了用于电极应用的 Ru 化学性质以及 Ru 在后续工艺（如薄膜沉积或热退火）中的降解机制。我们发现，由于在各种气体环境条件下预处理会改变 Ru 的化学性质，以及由于通过原子层沉积 (ALD) 沉积的 TiO2 的生长行为，亚表面氧会导致 Ru 降解。通过在 ALD 之前进行适当的预处理，成功地改善了 Ru 的降解。沉积在预处理过的 Ru 电极上的 TiO2 薄膜表现出金红石相的晶体结构和光滑的表面形貌，从而导致优异的电性能。本文介绍了 Ru 作为电极应用的重要进展，可促进各种下一代电子设备的开发。