Donor-like States Research Articles

Electrical instability in short channel organic thin-film transistors induced by lucky-polaron mechanism

In this work we study the electrical stability under both gate bias stress and gate and drain bias stress of short channel (L = 5 μm) bottom contact/top gate OTFTs made on flexible substrate with solution-processed organic semiconductor and fluoropolymer gate dielectric. These devices show high field-effect mobility (μ FE > 1 cm 2 V −1 s −1 ) and excellent stability under gate bias stress (bias stress V ds = 0V). However, after prolonged bias stress performed at high drain voltage, V ds , the transfer characteristics show a decreased threshold voltage, degradation of the subthreshold slope and an apparent increase in the field effect mobility. Furthermore, the output characteristics show an asymmetry when measured in forward and reverse mode. These experimental results can be explained considering that the bias stress induces the damage of a small part of the device channel, localized close to the source contact. The analysis of the experimental data through 2D numerical simulations supports this explanation showing that the electrical characteristics after bias stress at high V ds can be reproduced considering the creation of donor-like interface states and trapping of positive charge into the gate dielectric at the source end of the device channel. In order to explain this degradation mechanism, we suggest a new physical model that, assuming holes injection from the source contact into the channel in bounded polarons, envisages the defect creation at the interface near the source end of the channel induced by injection of holes that gained energy from both the high longitudinal electric fields and the polaron dissolution. • Bias stress induced instability in short channel OTFTs is due to small defected channel region at the source contact. • Interface states and charge trapping into the gate dielectric at the source end have been considered in 2D simulations. • A “Lucky-polaron” mechanism well explains the creation of a defected region and carrier injection into the gate dielectric.

Generation, relaxation and annealing of Si/SiO2 charges induced by low-energy electron beam

Silicon oxide based, aluminum gated MOS structures fabricated on n-type silicon were subjected to a low energy electron beam irradiation in the scanning electron microscope. The induced interface states and the oxide charges were studied by the high frequency capacitance–voltage technique as a function of the electron beam energy, irradiation dose, annealing time, temperature and electric field. Strong initial increase and subsequent saturation of the donor-like interface state density with the irradiation dose was observed for all electron beam energies used. Besides, shallow positively charged traps were found to be formed in the silicon oxide after irradiation, while at the initial stage of irradiation the formation of a negative charge was established. The irradiation induced interface states and the positively charged shallow oxide traps demonstrated notable reduction at room temperature. Zero bias annealing at the temperatures of about 250–300 °C resulted in a complete removal of the interface states and partial compensation or elimination of the oxidation induced positive fixed charge, presumably due to remaining negative charge in oxide.

Establishment and Resilience of Transplanted Gut Microbiota in Aged Mice

The maintenance of healthy and resilient gut microbiota is critical for the life quality and healthspan of the elderly. Many gastrointestinal diseases which are more prevalent in the aged population are believed to be associated with gut microbiota disruption and dysbiosis. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), a procedure in which fecal material is transferred from a donor to a recipient, has been increasingly used as a treatment to restore healthy gut microbiota. However, little is known about the establishment and long-term stability of transplanted microbiota or their resilience to further disruption, especially in aged hosts. In the present investigation, we aimed to study the establishment and resilience of transplanted microbiota after autologous versus heterologous FMT in aged recipients. We demonstrated that gut microbiota of aged mice (20 months old) treated with a broad-spectrum antibiotic cocktail failed to restore its original diversity and composition over 8 weeks via spontaneous recovery; in contrast, FMT using either autologous or heterologous (2 months old from a different vendor) donors facilitated the recovery of gut microbiota diversity. Both autologous and heterologous FMT successfully established donor-like microbiota states and affects the gene expression profile of the aged host for as long as 8 weeks. Furthermore, we evaluated the resilience of transplanted microbiota during further colon environment changes. The transplanted microbiota established by heterologous FMT is not resilient during chemical-induced colonic inflammation, in contrast to that of autologous FMT. Our findings systematically examined the effects of FMT on the gut homeostasis of aged hosts, highlighted the need to monitor the long-term stability of transplanted gut microbiota and to perform multiple FMT when necessary.

Abnormal phenomenon of source-drain current of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure device under UV/visible light irradiation* *Project supported by Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province, China (Grant Nos. 2019B010132001 and 2019B010132003), the Joint Funding of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) & the Macao Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT) of China (Grant No. 62061160368), the National Key Research

We report an abnormal phenomenon that the source-drain current (I D) of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure devices decreases under visible light irradiation. When the incident light wavelength is 390 nm, the photon energy is less than the band gaps of GaN and AlGaN whereas it can causes an increase of I D. Based on the UV light irradiation, a decrease of I D can still be observed when turning on the visible light. We speculate that this abnormal phenomenon is related to the surface barrier height, the unionized donor-like surface states below the surface Fermi level and the ionized donor-like surface states above the surface Fermi level. For visible light, its photon energy is less than the surface barrier height of the AlGaN layer. The electrons bound in the donor-like surface states below the Fermi level are excited and trapped by the ionized donor-like surface states between the Fermi level and the conduction band of AlGaN. The electrons trapped in ionized donor-like surface states show a long relaxation time, and the newly ionized donor-like surface states below the surface Fermi level are filled with electrons from the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channel at AlGaN/GaN interface, which causes the decrease of I D. For the UV light, when its photon energy is larger than the surface barrier height of the AlGaN layer, electrons in the donor-like surface states below the Fermi level are excited to the conduction band and then drift into the 2DEG channel quickly, which cause the increase of I D.

Source of two-dimensional electron gas in unintentionally doped AlGaN/GaN multichannel high-electron-mobility transistor heterostructures

Unintentionally doped (UID) AlGaN/GaN-based multichannel high electron mobility transistor (MC-HEMT) heterostructures have been demonstrated on the SiC substrate using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The MC-HEMT heterostructure with a GaN channel thickness of 100 nm resulted in a cumulative two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) concentration of 4.3 × 1013 cm−2 across six GaN channels. The sample showed sheet resistances of 170 Ω/sq. and 101 Ω/sq. at room temperature and 90 K, respectively. The source of 2DEG in the buried GaN channels of the heterostructure was investigated. The C–V measurements conducted on UID MC-HEMTs excluded the possibility of the valence band being the source of 2DEG and the consequent formation of two-dimensional hole gas at the buried GaN-channel/AlGaN-barrier interfaces. A comparison of the experimentally obtained 2DEG concentration with the simulated data suggests the presence of donor-like trap states, situated at 0.6 to 0.8 eV above the valence band at the buried GaN-channel/AlGaN-barrier interfaces, which act as the source of 2DEG in UID MC-HEMT heterostructures.

Analysis of Threshold Voltage Shift for Full VGS/VDS/Oxygen-Content Span under Positive Bias Stress in Bottom-Gate Amorphous InGaZnO Thin-Film Transistors.

In this study, we analyzed the threshold voltage shift characteristics of bottom-gate amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) under a wide range of positive stress voltages. We investigated four mechanisms: electron trapping at the gate insulator layer by a vertical electric field, electron trapping at the drain-side GI layer by hot-carrier injection, hole trapping at the source-side etch-stop layer by impact ionization, and donor-like state creation in the drain-side IGZO layer by a lateral electric field. To accurately analyze each mechanism, the local threshold voltages of the source and drain sides were measured by forward and reverse read-out. By using contour maps of the threshold voltage shift, we investigated which mechanism was dominant in various gate and drain stress voltage pairs. In addition, we investigated the effect of the oxygen content of the IGZO layer on the positive stress-induced threshold voltage shift. For oxygen-rich devices and oxygen-poor devices, the threshold voltage shift as well as the change in the density of states were analyzed.

Effect of oxide and interface traps on electrical characteristics of post-deposition annealed HfSiO4/n-Si structures

This study presents detailed results on the modifications in chemical composition, defective bonds, crystal properties based on x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) depth profiles and x-ray diffraction of post-deposition annealed HfSiO4/Si structure. It also leads to a link to defect centers and their effect on the electrical characteristics of MOS capacitors. The HfSiO4 films were deposited on n-Si wafers by RF magnetron sputtering and annealed at room temperature (RT), 300 °C, 700 °C, 900 °C, 1100 °C under N2 ambient. That the atomic concentration values of each element in the oxide did not change significantly depending on the annealing temperature showed that the film was deposited with high homogeneity. It was determined that the shift direction of the binding energies of Hf 4f and O 1s XPS spectra were related to the bonding preference of oxygen rather than its concentration. The increase in Hf–M and Hf–Si oxygen defective bonds decreased the binding energy of the XPS spectra. It was determined from the XPS analyses of amorphous films that Hf–Si and Si–Si oxygen defective bonds may cause the positive charge trapping, resulting in the highest negative charge trapping/positive effective oxide charge density () in the 300 °C-MOS capacitor. It was determined that Hf–Hf oxygen defective bonds may be the precursors of negative charge trapping. Interface states only contributed to the dielectric constant (k) in the RT-MOS capacitor. The (barrier height) values showed that the efficiency of acceptor-like and donor-like interface states changes depending on the frequency.

Effects of Al Composition and High-Temperature Atomic Layer-Deposited Al2O3 Layer on the Leakage Current Characteristics of AlGaN/GaN Schottky Barrier Diodes

AlGaN/GaN Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with high Al composition and high temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) Al2O3 layers were investigated. Current–voltage (I–V), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscope (AFM), and capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements were conducted in order to find the leakage current mechanism and reduce the reverse leakage current. The fabricated AlGaN/GaN SBDs with high Al composition exhibited two orders’ higher leakage current compared to the device with low Al composition (20%) due to large bulk and surface leakage components. The leakage current measured at −60 V for the fabricated SBD with Al2O3 deposited at temperature of 550 °C was decreased to 1.5 μA, compared to the corresponding value of 3.2 mA for SBD with nonpassivation layer. The high quality ALD Al2O3 deposited at high temperature with low interface trap density reduces the donorlike surface states, which effectively decreases surface leakage current of the AlGaN/GaN SBD.

Effect of plasma oxidation on tin-oxide active layer for thin-film transistor applications

In this study, the plasma oxidation effect in tin-oxide (SnOx) thin film was investigated. And on this basis, we fabricated n-type thin-film transistors (TFTs) using the SnOx thin film with the plasma oxidation by experiments. By adjusting the processing time of the oxygen plasma treatment (OPT), the optimized SnOx TFT device exhibited an extremely high field-effect mobility of 87.6 cm2 V−1 s−1, a desirable on-to-off current ratio of 1.9 × 104 and a threshold voltage of − 0.9 V. Furthermore, we investigated the origin of the performance enhancements in the n-type SnOx TFTs with the optimized OPT by introducing the density of states (DOS) modeling in TCAD simulation. The numerical simulation indicated that the attributes of donor-like Gaussian defect states (oxygen vacancies) were modified in overall DOS due to the plasma oxidation effect. These present results show that the SnOx TFT treated by oxygen plasma has great promise in the future high-performance flat panel display industries.

P-Type Cu2O Thin Film Transistors for Active Matrix Displays: Physical Modeling and Numerical Simulation

In this paper, we present the physical modeling and numerical simulations of p-type Cu2O TFT for the design and development of active matrix displays. In Cu2O, the carrier transport is through copper and oxygen vacancies (VCu and VO) which are prominent defects due to their low formation energies. These defects were modeled with acceptor-like and donor-like Gaussian states. From the simulations, it was observed that the VCu significantly controls the OFF current and threshold voltage (Vth), while VO degrades the ON current. For the analysis of device stability, both positive and negative bias stress (PBS and NBS) on Cu2O TFT was investigated with dielectric/channel interface traps in simulations. Under NBS, a significant negative shift in the Vth was observed due to hole trapping from channel to dielectrics. On the contrary, during PBS, a small shift in Vth was observed with significant degradation in sub-threshold swing (SS) due to the deficiency of free electron and the presence of additional defects generated in Cu2O channel as stress time increase. In addition to this effect of increase in Cu2O channel thickness were studied where a significant amount of shift in Vth from -7.1 V to -6.1 V was observed as the thickness increased from 45 nm to 65 nm. Finally, the dynamic performance of Cu2O was evaluated and found to be better for higher channel thickness in terms of holding of the output voltage. From these observations, the p-type Cu2O TFT shall be considered for the stable and efficient pixel circuit of active matrix displays such as AMLCD.

Design and Analysis of Gallium Nitride-Based p-i-n Diode Structure for Betavoltaic Cell with Enhanced Output Power Density.

In this work, Gallium Nitride (GaN)-based p-i-n diodes were designed using a computer aided design (TCAD) simulator for realizing a betavoltaic (BV) cell with a high output power density (Pout). The short-circuit current density (JSC) and open-circuit voltage (VOC) of the 17 keV electron-beam (e-beam)-irradiated diode were evaluated with the variations of design parameters, such as the height and doping concentration of the intrinsic GaN region (Hi-GaN and Di-GaN), which influenced the depletion width in the i-GaN region. A high Hi-GaN and a low Di-GaN improved the Pout because of the enhancement of absorption and conversion efficiency. The device with the Hi-GaN of 700 nm and Di-GaN of 1 × 1016 cm−3 exhibited the highest Pout. In addition, the effects of native defects in the GaN material on the performances were investigated. While the reverse current characteristics were mainly unaffected by donor-like trap states like N vacancies, the Ga vacancies-induced acceptor-like traps significantly decreased the JSC and VOC due to an increase in recombination rate. As a result, the device with a high acceptor-like trap density dramatically degenerated the Pout. Therefore, growth of the high quality i-GaN with low acceptor-like traps is important for an enhanced Pout in BV cell.

Analyzing the interface trap density in SiGe capacitors using an abnormal flat band voltage shift at low temperature

In this work, capacitance-voltage (C–V) measurement and analysis were performed on silicon (Si)-based devices at low temperature (77 K). By this method, the C–V curves were compared for two devices with channel materials of Si and silicon–germanium (SiGe). The lattice mismatch of SiGe results in more defects at the interface between the channel and the gate insulator layer, which cause abnormal C–V properties. Through comprehensive theoretical calculation, proved by Silvaco simulation, an energy band diagram and physical model are proposed. Furthermore, the distribution of donor-like states can be examined, which can assist in monitoring the interface quality.

Dynamics of surface electron trapping of a GaN-based transistors revealed by spatiotemporally resolved x-ray spectroscopy

Gallium nitride (GaN)-based transistors are promising for realizing ultralow latency of wireless information communications that are indispensable for smart societies. However, surface states have slow time constants of (de)trapping electrons and delay electrical signal responses of the transistors, which prevent the ultralow latency. To clarify the mechanism of surface electron trapping (SET) of GaN-based transistors, which varies spatiotemporally, we studied the dynamics of the SET by using spatiotemporally resolved x-ray spectroscopy. We directly observed that neutralization of donor-like surface states occurs only near the gate edge in the drain side just after switching off the bias. We found that the large local electric field formed by the bias application induces site- and time-specificity in the SET, which leads to the delayed responses. Our proposed mechanism will be useful for optimizing the transistor structure to achieve the ultralow latency.

Numerical Study of Sub-Gap Density of States Dependent Electrical Characteristics in Amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O Thin-Film Transistors

We demonstrate the effect of the sub-gap density of states (DOS) on electrical characteristics in amorphous indium-gallium-zinc (IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). Numerical analysis based on a two-dimensional device simulator Atlas controlled the sub-gap DOS parameters such as tail acceptor-like states, tail donor-like states, Gauss acceptor-like states, and Gauss donor-like states in amorphous IGZO TFTs. We confirm accuracy by exploiting physical factors, such as oxygen vacancy, peroxide, hydrogen complex, band-to-band tunneling, and trap-assisted tunneling. Consequently, the principal electrical parameters, such as the threshold voltage, saturation mobility, sub-threshold swing, and on-off current ratio, are effectively tuned by controlling sub-gap DOS distribution in a-IGZO TFTs.

Ultrabroadband density of states of amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O

The sub-gap density of states of amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide ($a$-IGZO) is obtained using the ultrabroadband photoconduction (UBPC) response of thin-film transistors (TFTs). Density functional theory simulations classify the origin of the measured sub-gap density of states peaks as a series of donor-like oxygen vacancy states and acceptor-like Zn vacancy states. Donor peaks are found both near the conduction band and deep in the sub-gap, with peak densities of $10^{17}-10^{18}$ cm$^{-3}$eV$^{-1}$. Two deep acceptor-like metal vacancy peaks with peak densities in the range of $10^{18}$ cm$^{-3}$eV$^{-1}$ and lie adjacent to the valance band Urbach tail region at 2.0 to 2.5 eV below the conduction band edge. By applying detailed charge balance, we show increasing the density of metal vacancy deep-acceptors strongly shifts the $a$-IGZO TFT threshold voltage to more positive values. Photoionization (h$\nu$ > 2.0 eV) of metal vacancy acceptors is one cause of transfer curve hysteresis in $a$-IGZO TFTs owing to longer recombination lifetimes as they get captured into acceptor-like vacancies.

Abnormal double-hump phenomenon in amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O thin-film transistor under positive gate bias temperature stress

This paper presents an investigation of the abnormal hump phenomenon in amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide thin-film transistors under positive gate bias and temperature stress (PBTS). During PBTS, the current-voltage curve shows a severe hump and an abnormal double hump. Additional stress tests were conducted under long-term and low-temperature PBTS and current stress (CS), then the capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves after PBTS and CS were compared to identify the causes of the double-hump phenomenon. Threshold voltages VT were extracted at two levels of normalized drain current IDS: high VT_H at IDS = 10-8 A and low VT_L at IDS = 10-12 A. After 10,000 s, high-temperature PBTS shifted VT_H by + 3.48 V and VT_L by –3.20 V; low-temperature PBTS shifted VT_H by + 1.46 V and VT_L by –0.56 V; and CS shifted VT_H by + 5.02 V and VT_L by –0.98 V. Saturation measurement indicated that degradation of the source region has the strongest influence on degradation of IDS-VGS during CS; these results indicate trapping of charged species. In addition, both high-temperature PBTS and CS affected the C-V results; these changes indicate creation of defect states. Therefore, we hypothesize that the severe hump occurred because of a combination of trapping of charged species and creation of defect states. The double hump occurred only during PBTS. Thus, we hypothesize that the double hump was caused by trapping of ionized oxygen vacancies in the back channel. In a 2D TCAD simulation, the proposed hypothesis suggests that the migration of defect states and charged species affect the hump phenomenon. By changing distribution of shallow donor-like states in the channel and by changing the number of trapped electrons, we obtained simulated curves that were well fitted to our experimental results.

Evolution of the surface states during the in situ SiN layer formation on AlN/GaN heterostructures

The effect of a monolayer thick SiN film on the surface states of the AlN/GaN heterostructure grown by molecular beam epitaxy was investigated. It was revealed that the submonolayer SiN coating of the AlN surface leads to the formation of an ordered (√3 × √3)R30° structure. Further SiN film growth results in a Si-enriched SiN amorphous film formation. The Fermi level, pinned 1 eV above the valence band maximum of as-grown AlN, jumps 2.3 eV when (√3 × √3)R30° is formed, and then gradually goes to 3.1 eV with an increase in the thickness of the SiN film up to four monolayers. This is explained by the evolution of surface states, as well as the appearance of donor-like states in a Si-enriched SiN film. The presence of donor-like states was confirmed when studying the effect of current collapse in enhancement-mode high electron mobility transistors made of SiN/AlN/GaN heterostructures.

Study of Si(100)-SiO2 Interface Trap Time Constant Distributions in Large Area Conventional MOSFETs-Comparison with Submicron Devices

It seems well accepted now that Pb0 centers are the main defects at the Si(100)/SiO2 interface in conventional MOS transistors, even after forming annealing.Besides, the charge pumping (CP) technique in which a MOSFET is repeatedly switched between inversion and accumulation has been widely used for studying single capture/emission events in deep submicron transistors [1]. In CP, the minority carriers stored into the interface traps in inversion recombine in accumulation with majority carriers from the substrate (n-channel case), providing a CP current which can be studied.When it was accepted that in submicron MOSFETs the CP current, Icp, was given by Icp = f.q.N, f being the gate signal frequency, q, the electron charge, and N, the number of traps entering Icp, recently, Tsuchiya and co-workers [2,3] studying devices having SiO2 obtained by Rapid Thermal Oxidation, pointed out step heights equal to 2.q among a number of steps from 0 to 2.q. Pb0 centers with their donor-like and acceptor-like states in the lower and upper halves of the silicon bandgap, respectively, were thus measured for the first time in such devices.As the energy at the interface that can be probed by CP is close to that between these two states, » 0.6 eV, the authors discussed the capability of CP to account for the two components with regard to the gate pulse characteristics.In the present paper, the traps remaining electrically active at the Si(100)-SiO2 interface in large area conventional MOSFETs after the full technological process including forming gas annealing are studied. This is achieved using techniques developed in recent years that use the variation of the gate signal frequency for different gate voltage swings [4]. Trap time constant distributions are pointed out and studied as function of gate voltage and gate signal frequency. The results are discussed with regard to those reported in [2,3], to the CP models previously proposed and to CP curves simulation [5].[1] G. Groeseneken et al. , IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 43, 940 (1996).[2] T. Tsuchiya and Y. Ono, Jap. J. Appl. Phys. 54, 04DC01 (2015).[3] T. Tsuchiya and P.M. Lenahan, Jap. J. Appl. Phys. 56, 031301 (2017).[4] Y. Manéglia, F. Rahmoune, and D. Bauza, J. Appl. Phys. 97, 014502 (2004).[5] D. Bauza, J. Appl. Phys. 94, 3239 2003).

Study of Si(100)-SiO2 Interface Trap Time Constant Distributions in Large Area Conventional MOSFETs-Comparison with Submicron Devices

Pb0 centers are the main defects at the Si(100)/SiO2 interface in conventional MOS transistors. Besides, the charge pumping (CP) technique in which a MOSFET is repeatedly switched between inversion and accumulation has been widely used for studying single capture/emission events in deep submicron transistors. In CP, the minority carriers stored into interface traps in inversion recombine in accumulation with majority carriers from the substrate (n-channel case). This provides a CP current which can be studied. When it was accepted that in submicron MOSFETs the CP current was given by Icp = f.q.N, where f is the gate signal frequency, q the electron charge, N the number of traps entering Icp, recently, Tsuchiya and co-workers, pointed out steps heights equal to 2.q: Pb0 centers with their donor-like and acceptor-like states in the lower and upper halves of the silicon bandgap, respectively were therefore measured for the first time in submicron devices. In the present paper, the traps remaining electrically active at the Si(100)-SiO2 interface in large area conventional MOSFETs after the full technological process including forming gas annealing are studied. This is achieved using techniques developed in recent years that use the variation of the gate signal frequency for different gate voltage swings. The trap time constant distributions that exist at this interface are studied as function of gate voltage and gate signal frequency. The results are discussed with regard to the CP models previously proposed and to CP curves simulation.

Impact and origin of the oxide-interface traps in Al/Yb2O3/n-Si/Al on the electrical characteristics

This study presents comprehensive results on the changes of the crystal properties, surface morphology, chemical composition and bonding structures based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) at different depths of the Yb2O3/Si as depending on post-deposition annealing (PDA) temperature. It also includes a detailed examination of the structural properties and the electrical characteristics of the Yb2O3 MOS capacitors. 125 nm-thick Yb2O3 thin films were deposited on n-Si by RF magnetron sputtering system and the Yb2O3/Si structures were annealed at 200 °C, 400 °C, 600 °C, 800 °C under nitrogen ambient. The largest grain size was obtained to be 17.3 nm from the sample annealed at 400 °C. The lowest roughness root-mean-square (Rq) value was measured as 0.464 nm in the Yb2O3 film annealed at 200 °C. Yb 4 d and O 1s spectra shifted to higher binding energies at Yb2O3/Si interface due to the approaching Si with high electronegativity. The peaks assigned to 2+ oxidation states were observed intensely at 400 °C and above due to the conversion of Yb3+→Yb2+. The intensity of the bonded oxygen species in O 1s spectra measured at surface decreased with increasing annealing temperature, which may cause decreasing in the dielectric constant value. The Yb–O bond was mostly observed within the film, while Si-rich (positively charged interface traps) or Yb-rich (negatively charged interface traps) silicate layers (Yb-Si-O) were formed at the interface depending on the PDA temperature. It has been determined that the thickness of the silicate-like layer increases with PDA temperature, resulting in decreasing dielectric constant. The interface state density (Nit) decreased with decreasing concentrations of Yb–Yb, Yb–Si and Si–Si at the interface. It was found that the presence of the Yb3+/Yb2+ ions within the film cause of negative oxide charge trapping and they were more active in the electric characteristics that the interface states. Whether the donor-like and acceptor-line interface states are active depending on the frequency makes it difficult to establish a link between the structural analyses and the electrical characteristics in some cases. The barrier height (φb), dopant concentration (Nd), Fermi energy level (EF) were determined depending on frequency.