Metal-Insulator-Metal Diode Process Development for 

Energy Harvesting Applications 

by Matthew Chin, Stephen Kilpatrick, and Dr. Richard Osgood 

ARL-TR-5158 April 2010 

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Army Research Laboratory 

Adelphi, MD 20783-1197 

ARL-TR-5158 April 2010 

Metal-Insulator-Metal Diode Process Development for 

Energy Harvesting Applications 

Matthew Chin 

Oregon State University 

School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 

1148 Kelley Engineering Center 

Corvallis, OR 97331-4501 

Stephen Kilpatrick 

Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, ARL 

and 

Dr. Richard Osgood 

Nanomaterials Science Team 

U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center 

Building 110 AMSRD-NSR-WS-B-NS 

15 Kansas St. 

Natick, MA 01760 

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Metal-Insulator-Metal Diode Process Development for Energy Harvesting 

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Matthew Chin, Stephen Kilpatrick, and Dr. Richard Osgood 

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14. ABSTRACT 

Persistent powering of electronics, sensors, and autonomous systems on the battlefield has become increasingly important to 

the U.S. Army. Scavenging energy from local environments reduces the required energy and weight transported to the 

theater. Black-body radiation could potentially provide a 24-hr energy source for Army systems. Micro/Nano-scale, metalinsulator-metal (MIM) tunnel diodes will be developed to provide half-wave rectification as part of a “rectenna” energy 

harvesting system, which includes a radiation-collecting antenna, a rectifying MIM tunnel diode, and a storage capacitor. 

This research addresses the development, fabrication, and characterization of high frequency MIM tunnel diodes for power 

rectification. Planar platinum/titanium-dioxide/titanium stacks were fabricated with the focus of determining the effects of the 

insulator thickness on the electrical performance. Insulator thicknesses were studied between 2 nm and 50 nm. The metals 

were chosen for their high work function difference, and the insulator was chosen for its barrier height and availability. 

Metals and insulator thin films were sputtered onto silicon substrates with silicon dioxide overlayers. I-V measurements were 

taken using an electrical characterization system to confirm a non-linear, asymmetric response. 

15. SUBJECT TERMS

MIM diode, rectenna, energy harvesting, rectifier 

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Stephen Kilpatrick 

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iii 

Contents 

List of Figures iv

List of Tables iv

1. Background 1

2. Design and Fabrication 1

3. Experimental Setup and Measurements 5

4. Results and Discussion 8

5. Next Steps and Current Progress 10

6. References 12

Appendix A. MIM Diode Process Flow Example Run 13

Appendix B. Measurement Settings for the Keithley 4200 SCS 17

Appendix C. Design of Experiment for TiO2 Development 21 

Distribution List 24 
iv 

List of Figures 

Figure 1. Cross-section of MIM diode material stack and probing locations. ................................2

Figure 2. The MIM diode mask provides the patterning for 18 different pillar sizes and 

geometries ranging from a 2 mm x 2 mm square, to as small as 5 μm x 5 μm squares and 

10 μm diameter circles. ..............................................................................................................3

Figure 3. Optical microscopy images of pillar blocks on a MIM diode die. Both circular and 

square pillars were fabricated. Represented in the images above include the 40 μm x 

40 μm, 20 μm x 20 μm, 10 μm x 10 μm, 5 μm x 5 μm, and the 10 μm diameter pillars. ........5

Figure 4. Output current with respect to an applied voltage sweep ranging from –2 mV to 

+2 mV. Please note that the kink between –0.2 mV and 0.4 mV is due to a measurement 

artifact on the system and is not a real portion of the signal (it is actually linear through 

that region, confirmed by additional measurements). ................................................................6

Figure 5. Output current with respect to an applied voltage sweep ranging from –0.2 mV to 

+0.2 mV. Please note that the kink between –0.03 mV and 0.3 mV is due to a 

measurement artifact on the system and is not a real portion of the signal (it is actually 

linear through that region, confirmed by additional measurements). ........................................7

Figure 6. Comparison of representative I-V curves for different pillar geometries. ......................9

Figure 7. Comparison of representative I-V curves for different oxide thicknesses. .....................9

List of Tables 

Table 1. Process flow description for the fabrication of a MIM diode. ..........................................4

Table 2. MIM diode measurement settings for the Keithley 4200 SCS. ........................................6

Table 3. Statistical summary for MIM diodes with respect to insulator thickness. ........................8

Table 4. Statistical summary for MIM diodes with respect to pillar geometry. .............................8
1 

1. Background 

Methods for extracting or harvesting energy from the surrounding environment are of great 

interest to the United States Army. With electronics and communications systems becoming 

increasingly important to the American Soldier for day-to-day operations, energy requirements 

for powering these systems have grown immensely since their introduction. As it stands, humanportable systems require the Soldier to carry energy in the form of batteries out into the field to 

keep their electronic systems powered. Batteries account for a substantial percentage of the 

weight carried by the Soldiers, which in turn leaves less room for food, ammunition, and armor. 

The purpose of this research is to develop components for a “rectenna” system that would allow 

electronics to scavenge and harvest energy from the surrounding environment, be it from solar 

sources, black body radiation, or thermal sources. The components required for such a system 

include a nano-antenna for radio frequency (RF) energy absorption, a rectifying metal-insulatormetal (MIM) diode for direct current (DC) conversion, and a super-capacitor for energy storage. 

The focus of this report is on the development of the MIM diode used for rectifying RF energy. 

A MIM tunnel diode is composed of two conductive metal layers separated by a very thin 

dielectric, and operates on the principles of thermionic emission and quantum tunneling (1). 

MIM diodes are desirable for the use in a “rectenna” system due to their ability to rectify at high 

frequencies (2). For the two conductive metal layers, typically two dissimilar metals are used to 

increase asymmetry between the metal Fermi levels, which improves the nonlinearity of the 

diode output current. There are many desired properties of a MIM diode used as a rectifier in a 

rectenna energy harvesting system. A large, nonlinear output current through the diode with 

respect to a swept voltage across the diode is such a property. The MIM diode should also have 

a threshold/turn-on voltage that is as small as possible. Using metals with very different work 

functions, and using a dielectric with a very low barrier height, improves this metric. 

Additionally, the dielectric material should be as thin as possible while remaining uniform to 

increase the maximum current output from the device (allowing for more electrons to potentially 

tunnel through the barrier). 

2. Design and Fabrication 

The development of a MIM diode suitable for use as a rectifier in a rectenna system is being 

done in conjunction with Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center 

(NSRDEC) in Natick, MA. The first step in the development of a MIM diode for rectification 

was material selection. Several material stacks, including Al-Al2O3-Al (3), Cr-CrO-Au (4), 

Al-Al2O3-Ag (5), and Nb-NbOx-Au (4), have been reported to be poor rectifiers due to the large 
2 

thermal response when exposed to an infrared (IR) source. Reports have indicated promising 

results using Ni-NiO-Au and Ni-NiO-Cr (6), and as such, collaborators led by Dr. Richard 

Osgood are currently working on the development of a MIM diode stack using those material 

systems. The U.S. Army Research Laboratories (ARL) have been working on a novel Ti-TiO2-

Pt material system as well as providing fabrication and metrology support to NSRDEC on the 

Ni-NiO-Au material system. 

The Ti-TiO2-Pt material system was chosen for MIM diode development for the high work 

function difference between titanium and platinum, for ability to grow a native oxide on 

titanium, and for titanium dioxide’s potentially manageable barrier height (though reportedly 

higher than the Ni-NiO-Au system). The initial test structure designs for MIM diode fabrication 

were simple square pillars fabricated on a conductive back-plane (common contact). 

Measurements are taken on these two-terminal devices by placing a probe on the common, 

conductive back-plane and a probe on the top metal layer of the pillar, as depicted in figure 1. 

Figure 1. Cross-section of MIM diode material stack and probing locations. 

A 4-in silicon wafer with a 1 micron-thick layer of silicon dioxide is used as the substrate for 

depositing the MIM stack. Platinum is deposited first, followed by the deposition of titanium 

dioxide and titanium. Although the design is crude, it allows for the deposition of the entire 

MIM material stack to be done without breaking the vacuum within a multi-material system DC 

sputtering tool. A CAD layout of a MIM pillar patterned die is shown in figure 2. A detailed 

process flow is provided in table 1 and example values of actual process runs are given in 

appendix A. 

Si (500 um) 

SiO2 (1 um) 

Pt (164 nm) 

TiO2 (0-100 nm) 

Ti (200 nm) 

Back Contact 

(Common) 

Top Contact

(Pillar) 
3 

Figure 2. The MIM diode mask provides the patterning for 18 different pillar sizes and geometries ranging 

from a 2 mm x 2 mm square, to as small as 5 μm x 5 μm squares and 10 μm diameter circles. 
4 

Table 1. Process flow description for the fabrication of a MIM diode. 

1 Substrate Cleaning The Si/SiO2 substrate is cleaned using an acetone, isopropyl 

alcohol, and deionized water rinse, followed by a nitrogen dry 

and soft-bake to remove any moisture from the surface. 

2 MIM Stack Deposition A multi-material sputtering system is used to deposit Pt, TiO2, 

and Ti without breaking vacuum. The Pt and Ti are deposited 

using DC sputtering, while the TiO2 is deposited using a 

reactive sputtering in oxygen plasma. Future iterations added a 

10-min annealing step in the presence of O2 to allow for the 

TiO2 to uniformly form. 

3 Surface Cleaning After the MIM blanket deposition, the surface is cleaned using 

an acetone, isopropyl alcohol, and deionized water rinse, 

followed by a nitrogen dry. The wafer is then placed on a 

hotplate for 3–5 min to allow all moisture to evaporate. 

4 Spin On Resist AZ 5214 reverse image photoresist is spun on to pattern the 

MIM pillar patterns on the wafer. The resist is then soft-baked 

to firm up the resist. 

5 Photolithography The wafer with photoresist is placed on an aligner where the 

MIM diode mask is used to lay down the pattern. The wafer is 

then exposed to UV light. 

6 Development The exposed wafer is developed, using the development 

solution to remove photoresist where it was exposed to the UV 

light, leaving only the MIM diode patterns. 

7 Surface Cleaning The surface of the wafer is cleaned to remove any developer or 

resist residue in the patterned areas by using a very light ashing 

(descum) recipe in oxygen plasma. 

8 Edge Bead Removal Acetone is used to clean the edges of the wafers before the 

photoresist curing/hardening step to avoid flaking and residue 

build-up on the wafer edges. 

9 UV Curing The photoresist on the wafer is cured at higher temperatures 

(around 220 °C) using UV light for a long period of time. This 

hardens the resist so that it may withstand the ion milling 

process. 

10 Ion Milling An anisotropic dry etch is performed on the wafer to remove 

the top metal layer and the insulator layer around the pillar 

structures, leaving the bottom metal layer exposed. The 

hardened resist protects the pillar areas, while all areas are 

etched away. 

11 Photoresist Removal After the dry etch leaves the desired diode patterns, the 

photoresist is removed using an ashing process in oxygen 

plasma. Care must be taken to not run the oxygen plasma too 

long due to the presence of titanium metal, which can easily 

oxidize in such an environment if care is not taken. 

12 Inspection and Dicing The final wafer is inspected and then diced into individual die 

using a wafer scribe. The individual dies are then measured on 

a probe station for electrical parameters. 

During the initial fabrication run, we fabricated four wafers with approximately 20 die being 

produced from each wafer. Physical images of portions of the die are shown in figure 3. It 

should be noted that although the process flow shown in table 1 was used for three of the wafers, 

the first wafer fabricated used a very different process involving a lift-off process rather than an 

ion milling process. This wafer also had a gold back-plane rather than using the bottom layer of 
5 

the MIM diode stack to act as the conductive, common back-plane. There were fabrication 

issues that prompted the change from a lift-off process to an ion milling process, mainly 

concerning the titanium oxide growth. The heat required to properly produce the titanium oxide 

layer could not be achieved with a lift-off process flow, due to the presence of photoresist that 

could not be heated to those temperatures. 

Figure 3. Optical microscopy images of pillar blocks on a MIM diode die. Both circular and 

square pillars were fabricated. Represented in the images above include the 

40 μm x 40 μm, 20 μm x 20 μm, 10 μm x 10 μm, 5 μm x 5 μm, and the 10 μm 

diameter pillars. 

We recognized that the titanium oxide layer would potentially prove to be a difficult layer to 

control, due to inherent uniformity issues and its thin thickness. Three of the wafers that we 

fabricated were used to test various titanium dioxide thickness recipes, which included a control 

of 0 nm of TiO2, one wafer with 2 nm of TiO2, and the one wafer with 4 nm of TiO2. All recipes 

involved made use of a reactive sputter process involving a Ti target and oxygen plasma to 

produce the insulator. We kept the temperature and gas flow ratios constant, while only the 

deposition time was varied (in the case of the control, the deposition time was 0 s). 

3. Experimental Setup and Measurements 

Eighty-two devices from four different wafers were electrically measured using a 

Micromanipulator probe station and a Keithley 4200 Semiconductor Characterization System. 

All four wafers were measured using the same settings and equipment. Two-terminal I-V 

characteristics were measured with voltages swept in both the positive and negative directions 

over two sets of ranges. Ideally, the I-V curves from these MIM diodes would have a non-linear 

“kink” located where no applied voltage (i.e., 0 V) with a near-zero current produced in the 

negative applied voltage region, and an exponential current gain produced in the positive applied 
6 

voltage region. The measurement settings used for the taking the two-terminal I-V 

characteristics of the fabricated MIM diodes are shown in table 2. Additional setting information 

used can be found in appendix B (all details for replicating this measurement can be found). 

Table 2. MIM diode measurement settings for the Keithley 4200 SCS. 

I-V Sweep (–0.2 mV to 0.2 mV) I-V Sweep (–2 mV to 2 mV) 

Voltage Start Value: –0.2 mV Voltage Start Value: –2 mV 

Voltage Stop Value: 0.2 mV Voltage Stop Value: 2 mV 

Voltage Step Value: 0.002 mV Voltage Step Value: 0.02 mV 

Reverse V Sweep: Yes (same range) Reverse V Sweep: Yes (same range) 

Data Points: 201 Data Points: 201 

I-V characteristics were similar for all four wafers tested in both I-V sweep ranges. Some typical 

output graphs are shown in figures 4 and 5, representing the –2 mV to 2 mV sweep and the 

–0.2 mV to 0.2 mV sweep, respectively. 

Figure 4. Output current with respect to an applied voltage sweep ranging from –2 mV 

to +2 mV. Please note that the kink between –0.2 mV and 0.4 mV is due to a 

measurement artifact on the system and is not a real portion of the signal (it is 

actually linear through that region, confirmed by additional measurements). 
7 

Figure 5. Output current with respect to an applied voltage sweep ranging from –0.2 mV 

to +0.2 mV. Please note that the kink between –0.03 mV and 0.3 mV is due to a 

measurement artifact on the system and is not a real portion of the signal (it is 

actually linear through that region, confirmed by additional measurements). 

As stated previously, one wafer was fabricated differently using a lift-off process rather than the 

ion milling process, but was made using the same MIM diode pattern mask. The three wafers 

that were fabricated using the ion milling process were made with recipes varying the titanium 

dioxide thickness (0 nm, 20 nm, and 40 nm). Devices that were measured include various 

devices from each of these four wafers. In addition to the variations of oxide thickness, on each 

die exists multiple pillar geometries. We measure devices that came from one of three pillar 

geometries, including 200 μm x 200 μm squares, 100 μm x 100 μm squares, and 80 μm x 80 μm 

squares. The primary reason why these three pillar geometries were chosen was for their ease of 

probing on the measurement apparatus. Due to the probe size and the requirement of scratching 

into the material for an adequate contact, these three larger sizes were found to be the most 

appropriate devices to measure for the initial measurement runs. Data (I-V sweeps) were 

collected and broken down into the following categories: 

Insulator (TiO2) Thickness: 

• 0 nm 

• 20 nm 

• 40 nm 

Pillar Geometry: 

• 200 μm x 200 μm 
8 

• 100 μm x 100 μm 

• 80 μm x 80 μm 

4. Results and Discussion 

From the data collected, there were a few trends that we picked out immediately. The linear 

curvature presented in the I-V characteristics of figures 4 and 5 is common in every single one of 

the 82 devices measured across the four wafers and the three pillar geometries. The high 

linearity of the I-V characteristics for all of the MIM diodes indicates that none of the devices 

function as diodes, but rather, poor resistive elements. Using Ohm’s Law, the inverse of the I-V 

slope can be used to crudely calculate a rough resistance (in ohms) of the device. Since all 

devices measured appear to be operating as resistors, the resistance of the devices was used as a 

figure-of-merit to compile the data in a statistical summary, as shown in tables 3 and 4. Figures 

6 and 7 provide some representative graphs of each table, emphasizing how similar the results 

are, regardless of titanium dioxide thickness or the pillar geometry. 

Table 3. Statistical summary for MIM diodes with respect to insulator thickness. 

0 nm TiO2 20 nm TiO2 40 nm TiO2 All Devices 

Devices Measured 11 59 12 82 

Minimum Resistance 3.23 ohms 3.33 ohms 3.15 ohms 3.15 ohms 

Maximum Resistance 3.65 ohms 9.90 ohms 4.58 ohms 9.90 ohms 

Median Resistance 3.43 ohms 6.25 ohms 3.48 ohms 5.33 ohms 

Average Resistance 3.44 ohms 6.28 ohms 3.54 ohms 5.50 ohms 

Standard Deviation 0.140 ohms 1.69 ohms 0.381 ohms 1.91 ohms 

Table 4. Statistical summary for MIM diodes with respect to pillar geometry. 

80 x 80 μm 100 x 100 μm 200 x 200 μm All Devices 

Devices Measured 31 29 22 82 

Minimum Resistance 3.15 ohms 3.17 ohms 3.29 ohms 3.15 ohms 

Maximum Resistance 9.90 ohms 9.01 ohms 7.86 ohms 9.90 ohms 

Median Resistance 5.90 ohms 5.77 ohms 3.73 ohms 5.33 ohms 

Average Resistance 5.97 ohms 5.62 ohms 4.66 ohms 5.50 ohms 

Standard Deviation 2.10 ohms 1.85 ohms 1.49 ohms 1.91 ohms 
9 

Figure 6. Comparison of representative I-V curves for different pillar geometries. 

Figure 7. Comparison of representative I-V curves for different oxide thicknesses. 

From the summaries, it can be seen that nearly all of the devices measured possess a calculated 

resistance (derived from the slope of its measured I-V curve) between 3 ohms and 9 ohms. 

These resistance values are extremely low, with much of that resistance potentially being 

attributed to the contact resistance of the probes. More disconcerting is the fact that the results 
10 

were very similar regardless of the titanium oxide thickness (note that the increase of variability 

in the 20 nm thickness data can be attributed to the substantially larger sample set and that data 

was taken from two wafers compared to one wafer for the 0 nm and 40 nm thicknesses). This 

indicates that either the titanium dioxide insulating layer is not properly forming during the 

fabrication process (in this case, reactively sputtering Ti in oxygen plasma), or that the dielectric 

is so thin, too many electrons are able to tunnel through the barrier. In all probability, the lack of 

a thin, uniform layer of titanium dioxide is the reason for the poor results and no evidence of 

diode action in the I-V characteristics. Pin-holing, islanding, and incomplete oxidation of 

titanium are all known issues with reactively sputtering thin dielectrics from a metallic source. 

Methods to potentially rectify these issues are discussed in the next section. 

5. Next Steps and Current Progress 

The conclusion that we drew from the current data is quite simple: the MIM diodes are not 

diodes, but rather extremely poor resistive elements. This can be seen straight from the I-V 

characteristics collected from the 82 measured devices. Non-linear behavior is nowhere to be 

seen in the current set of fabricated devices. This means that something must be corrected in the 

fabrication process, and that the culprit of these poor results lies somewhere with the insulating 

layer of the devices. 

Efforts have already been started to rectify this issue in the fabrication of the dielectric layer. We 

have suspected that the reactively sputtered titanium is not fully oxidizing before it deposits on 

the wafer, creating shorts between the metal layers of the MIM diode. A potential solution to 

this issue is to expose the deposited titanium dioxide layer to a short anneal in an oxygen 

atmosphere, allowing it to react to any titanium left in the layer that had not reacted up to that 

point. Issues with pinholes and islands will be more difficult to overcome, but they can be ruled 

out if a relatively thick titanium dioxide layer is grown. 

An optimized titanium dioxide deposition recipe will be needed to create reliable Pt-TiO2-Ti 

MIM diodes in the future for use in rectenna systems. A design-of-experiment (DOE) is 

currently underway to determine the best temperature, gas flow ratio, and time (directly 

associated with thickness) to sputter the titanium dioxide insulating layer for extremely thin 

films. This DOE is currently being performed for the Unaxis Clusterline Sputter System. With 

guidance from the field engineer of the system, values were chosen for the three variables to be 

reviewed in the DOE. Appendix C provides both details and justification for the variables 

explored in the DOE, as well as a table of experiments that are in progress or that will be 

performed. 

While a functional MIM diode for power rectification in a rectenna system has yet to be 

achieved, there are still many avenues of exploration still yet to be reviewed and much work that 
11 

still needs to be done. Immediate objectives include ongoing work with creating a reliable, 

uniform dielectric in the Pt-TiO2-Ti material system, as well as developing better MIM diode 

designs to allow for smaller diode areas that are still capable of being probed. NSRDEC has 

shown great potential with the Ni-NiO-Au material system, with the achievement of a non-linear 

device, and hopefully, ARL is not too far behind in confirming the usefulness of a TiO2-based 

MIM diode. 
12 

6. References 

1. Krishnan, Subramanian; Stefanakos, Elias; Bhansali, Shekhar. Thin Solid Films 2008, 516, 

2244–2250. 

2. Jennings, D. A.; Petersen, F. R.; Evenson, K. M. Appl Phys Lett 1975, 26, 510. 

3. Elchinger, G. M.; Sanchez, A.; Davis, Jr., C. F.; Javan, A. J Appl Phys 1976, 47, 591. 

4. Berland, B. NREL Report NREL/SR-520-33263, 2003. 

5. Diesing, D.; Hassel, A. W.; Lohrengel, M. M. Thin Solid Films 1999, 342, 282–290. 

6. Krishnan, S.; La Rosa, H.; Stefanakos, E.; Bhansali, S.; Buckle, K. Sensor Actuat a-Phys

2008, 142, 40–47. 
13 

Appendix A. MIM Diode Process Flow Example Run 

Project Name: Metal-Insulator-Metal Diode Project (Component of Rectenna) 

Experiment Name: Titanium Dioxide Recipe and Process Development 

Entry Type: Fabrication 

Entry Page Span: 3 pages 

Wafer ID: W21 (TiO2 @ 500 °C for 1923 s in 20 sccm/20 sccm Ar/O2) 

 W09 (TiO2 @ 300 °C for 1923 s in 20 sccm/20 sccm Ar/O2) 

 W27A (TiO2 @ 500 °C for 1923 s in 30 sccm/10 sccm Ar/O2) 

Wafer Start: 07/24/2009 

Substrate Type: 4-inch Si 

Substrate Thickness: unknown thickness 

Other Info: 1 um of SiO2 present 

Cleaning: 07/27/2009 

 Solution(s): Acetone/IPA/De-mineralized water rinse 

 Post Process: Nitrogen dry 

 Soft Bake: 110°C for 60 s 

Stack Deposition: (ALL – various dates 07/2009) 

Process Tool: CLC 200 Unaxis Clusterline Sputter Tool 

Dep Method: Sputtering (DC Magnetron) 

Recipe: MC_Pt 1640A_TiO2 1000A_Ti 2000A_500C_1a 

MC_Pt 1640A_TiO2 1000A_Ti 2000A_300C_1a 

MC_Pt 1640A_TiO2 1000A_Ti 2000A_500C_2 

Base Pressure: ~2-3x10-4 mbar 

 Base Power: 1000W 

 M1 Material: Titanium 

 M1 Temp: 500°C 

 M1 Dep Time: 18 s 

 M1 Gas Flow: 30 sccm Ar 

 M2 Material: Platinum 

 M2 Temp: 500°C 

 M2 Dep Time: 

 M2 Gas Flow: 20 sccm/ 20 sccm O2/Ar for W09/W21(X3) 

 10 sccm/ 30 sccm O2/Ar for W25A(22) 

 I Material: Titanium Dioxide 

 I Temp: 500°C 

 I Dep Time: 1923 s 

 I Gas Flow: 20 sccm/ 20 sccm O2/Ar for W09/W21(X3) 

 10 sccm/ 30 sccm O2/Ar for W25A(22) 

 I Additional: 10 min O2 gas flow at 20 sccm/20 sccm for 

 M3 Material: Titanium 

 M3 Temp: 500°C 
14 

 M3 Dep Time: 

 M3 Gas Flow: 20 sccm/ 20 sccm O2/Ar for W09/W21(X3) 

 10 sccm/ 30 sccm O2/Ar for W25A(22) 

Cleaning: (ALL – 08/04/2009) 

 Solution(s): Acetone/IPA/De-mineralized water rinse 

 Post Process: Nitrogen dry 

 Soft Bake: 110°C for ~4 min 

Spin-On Resist: (ALL – 08/04/2009) 

 Resist Type: AZ 5214 (Positive mode) 

 Spinner: Manual Spinner (Hood #9) 

 Spin Speed: 2000 RPM 

 Spin Time: 40 s 

 Resist Amount: 1⁄2 test tube per wafer 

 Soft Bake Temp: 110°C 

 Soft Bake Time: 60 s 

Photoalignment: (ALL – 08/04/2009) 

 Aligner: Karl Suss MA6 Aligner (New) 

 Contact Type: Lo Vac 

 Al Gap: 40 um 

 Exposure Time: 2.8 s 

 Wattage/Chan: ~340 W / Channel 1 

Development: (ALL – 08/04/2009) 

 Solution: AZ 300 MIF 

 Develop Method: Submersion with agitation 

 Develop Time: 75-85 s 

 Post Treatment: Demineralized water rinse for ~40 s 

 Inspection: Overall, feature sizes came out well 

Ashing: (ALL – 08/04/2009) 

 Tool: Metroline M4L Plasma Asher 

 Recipe: 5214.descum.5min 

UV Curing: (ALL – 08/04/2009) 

 Tool: Axcelis UV Photoresist Stabilizer 

 Recipe: RON_220C 

Notes: PR residue present on edges due to neglecting edge bead removal 

Ion Milling: (W25A – 08/06/2009, W21 – 08/10/2009, W09 – 08/11/2009) 

 Tool: 4Wave Ion Beam Etch System 

 Recipe: 

 End Point Recipe: Hiden Program 7; dARL003.exp 
15 

Inspection: Over-etching occurred on all wafers due to miscalculated endpoint amplitude for 

platinum. This has been corrected. 
16 

INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK. 
17 

Appendix B. Measurement Settings for the Keithley 4200 SCS 

Project Name: Metal-Insulator-Metal Diode Project (Component of Rectenna) 

Experiment Name: Fabrication and electrical testing of Ti/TiO2/Pt MIM diode pillars (Trial 

Set 1) 

Entry Type: Experimental Plan 

Entry Page Span: 3 pages 

Purpose of Experiment: 

 The purpose is to produce a first run of MIM diode devices based on a Ti/TiO2/Pt stack, 

and then acquire I-V characteristics of the diode structures in hopes of a very low turn-on 

voltage. The titanium and platinum metals were chosen for their large work function difference 

between the two metals, and the titanium dioxide was chosen due to the ability to grow a thin 

film of the insulator material on the titanium in a controlled environment. There is also evidence 

from simulations that the titanium dioxide might have a low barrier height compared to other 

insulating materials. This first run will make use of a low-temperature deposition and lift-off 

process. Future runs will be performed using a high-temperature deposition and ion milling 

process. I-V measurements will be performed on 

General Order of Operations: 

1. Fabricate MIM diodes using one of two processes 

a. Low-temperature deposition recipes in conjunction with a lift-off process 

b. High-temperature deposition recipes in conjunction with an ion milling process 

2. Measurement of MIM diodes using a probe station and a DC parameter measurement 

system 

a. I-V sweeps between -0.2 mV and +0.2 mV 

b. I-V sweeps between -2.0 mV and +2.0 mV 

3. Device thickness confirmation through profilometer measurements 

Note: It should be noted that for the higher applied voltages, the current of the devices will 

most likely be outside of the measurable limits of the measurement tool being used (Keithley 

4200 SCS). 

General Sample Specifications: 

Substrate: Silicon 4-in wafer with varying parameters (thickness, dopants, oxides) 

Metal Underlayer: Either a uniform blanket gold film, or no metal underlayer present 

MIM Stack: Titanium/Titanium Dioxide/Platinum stack of varying thicknesses 

Independent Variables: 

1. MIM stack deposition thicknesses (for Titanium, Platinum and Titanium Dioxide) 

2. MIM stack deposition temperature (50 °C vs. 500 °C) 

3. Patterning method (lift-off vs. ion milling) 

4. Metal underlayer (gold vs. no gold) 
18 

Measurement Test Equipment: 

 Keithley 4200 Semiconductor Characterization System (with pre-amps) 

 Micromanipulator standard probe station 

Electrical Measurement Test Settings: 

I-V Sweep for two-terminal diode device (-0.2mV to 0.2mV) 

 Cathode (SMU2) 

o Forcing Function = Voltage Sweep (Master ON); Sweep Type = Linear (Dual 

OFF) 

o Power On Delay = 0s; Pulse Mode = OFF 

o Start = -0.0002V; Stop = 0.0002V; Step = 2e-6V; Data Points = 201; Src Range = 

Best Fixed; Compliance = 0.011A; 

o Measuring Options = Current ON (100mA); Voltage ON (Measured) 

 Anode (SMU1) 

o Forcing Function = Voltage Bias 

o Power On Delay = 0s 

o Level = 0V; Src Range = Best Fixed; Compliance = 0.1A 

o Measuring Options = Current ON (100mA); Voltage ON (Measured) 

 Timing 

o Speed = Normal 

o Sweeping Mode = ON; Sweep Delay = 0s; Hold Time = 0s 

o SMU Power On Sequence = Anode, Cathode 

o Timestamp Enabled = ON; Disable outputs at completion = ON 

I-V Sweep for two-terminal diode device (-2mV to 2mV) 

 Cathode (SMU2) 

o Forcing Function = Voltage Sweep (Master ON); Sweep Type = Linear (Dual 

OFF) 

o Power On Delay = 0s; Pulse Mode = OFF 

o Start = -0.002V; Stop = 0.002V; Step = 2e-5V; Data Points = 201; Src Range = 

Best Fixed; Compliance = 0.011A; 

o Measuring Options = Current ON (100mA); Voltage ON (Measured) 

 Anode (SMU1) 

o Forcing Function = Voltage Bias 

o Power On Delay = 0s 

o Level = 0V; Src Range = Best Fixed; Compliance = 0.1A 

o Measuring Options = Current ON (100mA); Voltage ON (Measured) 

 Timing 

o Speed = Normal 

o Sweeping Mode = ON; Sweep Delay = 0s; Hold Time = 0s 

o SMU Power On Sequence = Anode, Cathode 

o Timestamp Enabled = ON; Disable outputs at completion = ON 
19 

MIM Diode Experimental Data Naming Conventions: 

Data will initially save to: Keithley 4200 SCS (Nanoelectronics Lab Tool) 

C:\Data\MIM_xxxx... 

Data will be copied to: Matthew Chin’s Share Drive (M:\) 

M:\Data_MIM\MIM_2009_xx_yy\ 

Where xx is the month, and yy is the day 

File Type: Microsoft Excel File (“.xls”) 

Example Name: MIM_W03_D18_S100_r01c01_20090528_IVs1 

Electrical measurement variation numbers: 

ID Gold (Au) probe Platinum (Pt) 

probe 

Voltage Sweep Range Data Points 

S1 SMU1 (L) SMU2 (R) -2.0 mV to +2.0 mV 201 

S2 SMU1 (L) SMU2 (R) -0.2 mV to +0.2 mV 201 

S3 SMU2 (R) SMU1 (L) -2.0 mV to +2.0 mV 201 

S4 SMU2 (R) SMU1 (L) -0.2 mV to +0.2 mV 201 

MIM_W03_D18_S100_r01c01_20090528_IVs1 

Project ID 

(MIM diodes) 

Wafer 

(See wafer list) 

Device/Die # 

(See device map) 

Set ID 

(100um x 100um) 

Row/column location 

(row ID x column ID) 

Date 

(Year, Month, Day) 

E-measurement 

(IV, CV, etc.) 

E-measurement 

variation/type 
20 

INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK. 
21 

Appendix C. Design of Experiment for TiO2 Development 

Project Name: Metal-Insulator-Metal Diode 

Experiment Name: Titanium Dioxide Recipe and Process Development 

Entry Type: Experimental Plan 

Entry Page Span: 3 pages 

Description of Experiment: 

 After reviewing the data of the first two MIM diode fabrication trials, it appears that 

changes in the process flow need to take place. Evidence from the data suggests that there are 

either a lot of pinholes present in the current titanium dioxide layer being created, or a titanium 

dioxide layer is not being formed during the process. The same ohmic, linear slopes of the I-V 

characteristics were the same between the supposed 40 Å-thick grown titanium dioxide layer and 

the 0 Å-thick non-layer. A discussion with Ron confirmed that the recipes available on the CLC 

200 Clusterline deposition tool were only experimental ones that did not provide uniform 

coverage of the surface. 

 It has been determined that a process to get a uniform, thin titanium dioxide layer must be 

developed for the CLC 200 Clusterline tool. Tunneling is very dependent on this layer, so it is 

essential that the titanium dioxide can be reliably produced at the specified thickness. To 

accomplish this, a “design of experiment” will be performed to determine the optimal parameter 

settings to produce a uniform layer of titanium dioxide for thicknesses in the sub-10 angstrom 

range. Rob Mamazza from Unaxis (company that developed the CLC 200 Clusterline tool) will 

provide assistance in terms of direction for recipe development and creating the design of 

experiment set. 

General Order of Operations (Developed with the help of Rob Mamazza): 

1. Develop a design of experiment that with the 3 most critical parameters 

a. Oxygen Concentration with a low of 38 sccm/02 sccm Ar/O2, a mid of 29 

sccm/11 sccm Ar/O2, and a high of 20 sccm/20 sccm Ar/O2

b. Substrate Temperature with a low of 300 °C, a mid of 400 °C, and a high of 

500 °C 

c. Time with a low of 96 s (associated with ~5 nm of TiO2), a mid of 961 s 

(associated with ~50 nm of TiO2), and a high of 1923 s (associated with 100 nm 

of TiO2) 

2. Create recipes on the Clusterline tool for each experiment in the design 

3. Perform a limited test run with a few critical variations based on the original recipes 

a. Lock the temperature at 500°C and hold the gas ratio at 20 sccm/20 sccm Ar/O2 

while changing only the time for the low, mid, and high values specified in 1c 

above 

4. Determine a method to confirm film uniformity and thickness 

a. Although there are a few major metrology techniques to measure the thickness of 

a known material, the composition of the titanium dioxide being grown/sputtered 

is not known, so many of the standard methods may not work 

b. Device performance could potentially be used to determine the thickness. At the 
22 

very least, it would tell the point where the oxide is considered too thick 

Note: Since metal is being deposited as well, there might be a chance that not all of the metal 

reacts, leaving conductive traces in the oxide film – this must be corrected by fully oxidizing all 

remaining Ti. 

General Sample Specifications: 

Substrate: Silicon 4-in wafer with varying parameters (thickness, dopants, oxides) 

Metal Underlayer: Platinum using a standard recipe that has a thickness of ~1000 Å 

Oxide Layer: Titanium dioxide at varying thicknesses 

Metal Overlayer: This will not be laid down initially 

Independent Variables: 

1. Oxygen Concentration or Argon/Oxygen Ratio 

2. Substrate Temperature 

3. Time 

Deposition Tool Sets 

 Unaxis Clusterline CLC 200 Sputtering System 

Metrology Tool Sets 

 Physical Profilometry 

 Optical Profilometry 

 Ellipsometry 

 Electrical Measurements 
23 

Design of Experiments List: 

Experiment ID Temperature Gas Ratio (Ar/O2) Time Fab Start Date 

W01 300 C 36 sccm / 04 sccm 0096 s 

W02 300 C 36 sccm / 04 sccm 0961 s 

W03 300 C 36 sccm / 04 sccm 1923 s 

W04 300 C 30 sccm / 10 sccm 0096 s 

W05 300 C 30 sccm / 10 sccm 0961 s 

W06 300 C 30 sccm / 10 sccm 1923 s 

W07 300 C 20 sccm / 20 sccm 0096 s July 23, 2009 

W08 300 C 20 sccm / 20 sccm 0961 s July 22, 2009 

W09 300 C 20 sccm / 20 sccm 1923 s July 23, 2009 

W10 400 C 36 sccm / 04 sccm 0096 s 

W11 400 C 36 sccm / 04 sccm 0961 s 

W12 400 C 36 sccm / 04 sccm 1923 s 

W13 400 C 30 sccm / 10 sccm 0096 s 

W14 400 C 30 sccm / 10 sccm 0961 s 

W15 400 C 30 sccm / 10 sccm 1923 s 

W16 400 C 20 sccm / 20 sccm 0096 s 

W17 400 C 20 sccm / 20 sccm 0961 s 

W18 400 C 20 sccm / 20 sccm 1923 s 

W19 500 C 36 sccm / 04 sccm 0096 s 

W20 500 C 36 sccm / 04 sccm 0961 s 

W21 500 C 36 sccm / 04 sccm 1923 s 

W22 (W25A) 500 C 30 sccm / 10 sccm 0096 s July 21, 2009 

W23 (W26A) 500 C 30 sccm / 10 sccm 0961 s July 21, 2009 

W24 (W27A) 500 C 30 sccm / 10 sccm 1923 s July 22, 2009 

W25 500 C 20 sccm / 20 sccm 0096 s July 24, 2009 

W26 500 C 20 sccm / 20 sccm 0961 s July 24, 2009 

W27 500 C 20 sccm / 20 sccm 1923 s July 24, 2009 
24 

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