LAUSR

This paper aims to report on the formation of neodymium oxide by thermal oxidation of sputtered metallic Nd thin film deposited on Si substrate. Sputtered Nd thin film on Si substrate followed by thermal oxidation in O2 ambient at a fixed duration of 15 min for various temperatures (500–1100 °C) has been investigated systematically. The structural and chemical properties of the formed thin films were evaluated by X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transform infrared analysis, Raman analysis and high resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis. It was found that cubic phase of Nd2O3 film was formed along with orthorhombic phase of Nd2Si2O7 and multiple phases of SiO2 which consists of monoclinic, tetragonal, and hexagonal phases. Based on the electrical results, sample thermally oxidized at 900 °C revealed the highest electrical breakdown field of 5.26 MV/cm at the lowest leakage current density of 2.19 × 10− 6 A/cm2 together with lowest Qeff and average interface trap density. This is attributed to the lowest Nd-silicate content, the largest SiO2 and the smallest Nd2Si2O7 crystallite size, and highest barrier height.