Ferroelectric ceramics are very promising materials for a variety of piezoelectric applications such as high permittivity dielectrics, piezoelectric sensors, piezoelectric/electrostrictive transducers, actuators, electro-optic devices, etc. Among the commercially viable ferroelectric ceramics, the lead-zircon ate-titivate Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3 (PZT) based ceramics have dominated the market due to their superior piezoelectric and dielectric property along with other advantages like high electromechanical coupling, ease of processing and low cost. However, the toxicity of lead based materials, and its volatility at processing temperatures is a serious health and environmental concern. Several legislations against lead-based products have been passed all over the world in order to encourage identification of alternative lead-free materials for these applications. As a consequence, there has been a remarkable surge in efforts by researchers on identifying lead-free alternatives for piezoelectric applications. A larger emphasis has been placed on perovskite based ceramics since in addition to possessing excellent properties, their relatively simple structure facilitates understanding structure-property relationships which are important for developing novel high performance materials. Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 (NBT) and its solid solutions are one of the leading classes of perovskite ceramics, which show promising ferroelectric, piezoelectric and dielectric property thereby having the potential to replace PZT based ferroelectrics. The parent compound NBT is ferroelectric with large ferroelectric polarization (~40 C/cm2), promising piezoelectric properties with 0.08% maximum strain and longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient (d33) ~ 80 pC/N. Though NBT was discovered nearly six decades ago, a clear understanding of its structure remained elusive for a long time since different characterization techniques yielded contradicting reports on its structure and nature of phase transformation. However, rapid advances in characterization techniques in recent years have led to uncovering of new results, thereby shedding light on the true structure of NBT. X-ray and neutron diffraction studies in the past have shown that NBT exhibits rhombohedral (R3c) structure at room temperature, which undergoes a gradual transformation into tetragonal (P4bm) structure at ~230oC. However, recent characterization of both single crystal and powder of NBT using high resolution x-ray diffraction showed that the room temperature structure is not purely rhombohedral and the structure can be better modeled with a monoclinic (Cc) structure. In contrast to x-ray and neutron diffraction, electron diffraction studies have shown evidence for the presence of planar disorders, corresponding to in-phase octahedral tilts in the sample which cannot be accounted for by either R3c or Cc structure. In addition, EXAFS, x-ray and neutron total scattering studies, diffuse scattering studies, etc. have shown that the structural parameters obtained from bulk diffraction techniques are significantly different from the local structure of the material. Similar ambiguities have been observed even in NBT based solid solutions like BaTiO3, K1/2Bi1/2TiO3, etc. which show enhanced properties at the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB). A major breakthrough in understanding the structural complexity involved in NBT based solid solutions was achieved when it was found that the structure of the MPB compositions were sensitive to electric field. This led to solving the mystery behind the appearance of cubic-like phase at some of the MPB compositions where the application of electric-field resulted in the transformation of the structure into a co-existence of rhombohedral and tetragonal phases. Observation of an electric-field-induced structural transition at the MPB compositions was expected, because the MPB signifies instability in the system and even a minor external force can significantly influence the system. However, we have found that the structure of even pure NBT is significantly influenced by electric field and the framework of this thesis is based on this particularly important result. The intrinsic tendency of the electric field to affect the structure of NBT is a major factor which needs to be considered when studying similar phase transitions in the MPB compositions of NBT-substituted systems also. This was not taken into account by other research groups, and they assumed that the instability associated with the MPB was the only major factor involved in the electric-field induced transitions. A simple but highly effective strategy of grinding the electrically poled pellet into fine powder and then collecting x-ray diffraction patterns, facilitated elimination of preferred orientation in the sample. Thus, structural analysis by Rietveld refinement was possible even on the poled sample, which has not been carried out by any other groups on any ferroelectric ceramics so far. The initial part of the thesis deals with addressing the structural complexity of pure NBT, wherein the effect of electric field on the bulk structure as well as the local structure was studied in great detail. Later on, similar concepts are used to investigate BaTiO3 and K1/2Bi1/2TiO3 substituted NBT also. The first chapter of the thesis provides a brief introduction to the field of ferroelectrics, perovskite structure and their phase transition. An exposure to concepts like relaxor ferroelectrics, morphotrophic phase boundary, octahedral tilting, etc. has been provided. Then, a detailed overview of the existing literature related to the structure of NBT and its phase transition studies with temperature has been discussed. The details of the experimental procedures, characterization techniques used, and some theory behind these techniques have been provided in chapter 2. The third chapter deals with the room temperature structural characterization of pure NBT using techniques like x-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction, electron diffraction and EXAFS analysis. The results of these structural characterizations are also complemented with first-principles calculation study of the ground state structure of NBT, dielectric and ferroelectric characterization, and ageing studies. While x-ray and neutron diffraction clearly established electric-field induced structural transition from a monoclinic (Cc) to rhombohedral (R3c) structural transition, first principles calculation showed that the monoclinic phase is not stable and hence cannot be the ground state structure of NBT. Also, the possibility of the monoclinic features appearing in the x-ray diffraction solely due to micro structural effects by nano-sized domains was discussed. Comparison of electron diffraction of poled and unpoled samples of NBT showed that the in-phase tilted regions were greatly suppressed in the poled samples. Even HRTEM images showed that the unpoled samples had a very high concentration of strain heterogeneity in them, which was absent in the poled samples. This gave a direct evidence of correlation between observation of monoclinic phase and the presence of in-phase tilted regions in the unpoled samples. It was proposed that the strain caused by these in-phase tilted disorders caused distortion in the original rhombohedral lattice thereby making the structure appear monoclinic. Application of electric field causes the in-phase octahedral tilt disorders to vanish, thereby even the monoclinic features observed in the XRD also disappear. The fourth chapter discusses the consequences of poling on the high temperature phase transition behavior of NBT. We have used temperature dependent x-ray and neutron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and EXAFS analysis whose results were correlated with the anomalies observed in temperature dependent dielectric and polarization studies. We found that the poled sample shows a sharp anomaly at the depolarization temperature (Td) in all the characterization techniques used, in contrast to a diffuse or negligible effect seen in the unpoled sample. The depolarization temperature was found to be associated with introduction of structural disorder in the sample in the form of in-phase octahedral tilts. This also gave rise to a normal to relaxor ferroelectric transition at Td, and this relaxor behavior persisted even after cooling the sample to room temperature. An intermediate cubiclike phase was observed from x-ray diffraction at around 300C wherein the rhombohedral phase vanishes and the tetragonal phase begins to appear. Even single crystal study of NBT in the past showed sudden disappearance of the domains at 300C, even though they were visible at both above and below this temperature. This effect was called isotropization, and was postulated to arise due to extremely small domains which made the system isotropic. However, our neutron diffraction pattern showed that in-phase tilted superlattice reflections persisted at this temperature which meant that the structure was not truly cubic at this temperature. Further, a neutron diffraction study at higher temperatures showed that the in-phase tilted superlattice reflections persisted even above the cubic phase transition temperature, in corroboration with similar reports from high temperature electron diffraction. Chapter five deals with the BaTiO3 substituted NBT system, which has gained tremendous interest in the last decade as a viable piezoelectric ceramic for commercial applications. Though a large number of groups have already carried out exhaustive studies on this system, most of the work concentrated mainly on the MPB compositions which showed enhanced piezoelectric properties. In this chapter, we highlight some important findings in the pre-MPB and post-MPB compositions. Using room-temperature and high temperature x-ray diffraction, we show that there exists a subtle compositional phase boundary at x = 0.03, which disappears upon poling the sample. While the monoclinic phase in pure NBT becomes cubiclike at this composition, the depolarization temperature (Td) also slightly increases up to this composition and then decreases upon further Ba substitution. Similar studies were also carried out with compositions containing slightly excess bismuth in them (0.1 mol %), whose purpose was to negate the effects of Bi-vaporization during sintering. It was found that while the compositional phase boundary remained essentially unchanged, there was a decrease in Td for all the compositions. It was also realized that the addition of excess bismuth improved the overall piezoelectric property of the system. Studies on higher compositions of Ba in the post-MPB regions further revealed two additional compositional phase boundaries. A criticality in the coercive field and spontaneous tetragonal strain was observed at x = 0.2, which was found to be associated with crossover from a long-period modulated tetragonal phase (for x < 0.2) to a no modulated tetragonal phase (for x > 0.2). Near the BT rich end (x ~ 0.7), the system exhibits a crossover from normal to a diffuse/relaxor ferroelectric transition with increasing Na1/2Bi1/2 substitution. The onset of relaxor state by Na1/2Bi1/2 substitution on the Ba-site, was shown to increase the spontaneous tetragonal strain in the system. This was because of the enhancement in the covalent character of the A-O bond by virtue of the Bi+3 6s2 lone pair effect, and it also led to a sudden increase in the tetragonal-to-cubic transition temperature. This was in contrast to other chemical modifications of BT reported in the past (like Zr, Sn, Sr, etc.) where the relaxor state is accompanied by a weakening of the ferroelectric distortion and a decrease in the critical temperature. Finally, chapter six covers the effect of electric field induced phase transition in K1/2Bi1/2TiO3 substituted NBT. Visual observation showed that while the compositions (x < 0.2) behaved similar to pure NBT, wherein the structure became purely rhombohedral upon poling, the effect of electric field was negligible in the post-MPB compositions (x > 0.2). In addition, the peaks in the annealed samples were considerably overlapping which made identifying the structural transitions at the MPB compositions difficult using Rietveld analysis. However, comparison of the FWHM of the {200}pc peaks of compositions x < 0.2 showed that the FWHM began to increase suddenly for x > 0.15 indicating emergence of the tetragonal phase. Also, all the compositions showed an increase in the {200}pc peak FWHM by 0.03 after poling. The depolarization temperature showed only slight variation in the pre-MPB compositions, but showed a minimum at the MPB compositions. Temperature dependent dielectric studies further showed that for the post-MPB compositions, the system remains relaxor even after poling.

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / As cerâmicas piesoelétricas estudadas neste trabalho (Pb1,03Zr0,53Ti0,47O3, Pb1,03Zr0,525Nb0,05Ti0,465Fe0,005O3, Pb1,03Zr0,515Nb0,015Ti0,465Fe0,005O3, Pb1,03Zr0,525Nb0,005Ti0,455Fe0,015O3 e Pb1,03Zr0,515Nb0,015Ti0,455Fe0,015O3) foram sinterizadas a 1200oC e 1250oC por 3,5 h a fim de que suas propriedades piesoelétricas fossem investigadas. Nas composições dos PZT obtidas, a matriz e os dopantes empregaram óxidos como matérias primas. As misturas dos óxidos precursores foram calcinadas a 850oC por 3,5 h para obtenção da fase PZT. Os precursores, os pós e os corpos de prova de PZT foram caracterizados quanto às microestruturas, densidades e propriedades físicas. Após a conformação dos pós e a sinterização, os materiais cerâmicos foram polarizados para caracterização de suas propriedades piesoelétricas através de um impedancímetro na faixa de freqüência de 100 KHz a 200 KHz. Os resultados de dispersão de laser dos precursores revelaram aglomeração do óxido de chumbo e óxido de zircônio. As composições calcinadas apresentaram tamanho de partícula na faixa de 0,44 &#956;m a 0,63 &#956;m. As análises de densidade por método de Arquimedes indicaram uma boa densificação dos corpos de prova sinterizados e pouca influência da temperatura de sinterização com uma escala de valores de 95,73 a 97,65% da densidade teórica. As análises de microscopia eletrônica de varredura revelaram que os sinterizados contendo concentrações diferentes de dopantes exibem uma correlação do tipo e teor de dopante com a natureza da fratura, sendo transgranular, quando dopante ferro for predominante e intergranular, quando o dopante Nb for predominante. Também, o aumento da temperatura de sinterização resultou em fratura transgranular independente do tipo e da concentração de dopante, exceto para baixo teor de dopante da composição equimolar, cujos resultados não foram consistentes com a literatura sobre o material. No que diz respeito às propriedades piesoelétricas, revelou-se que a combinação da variação da composição com a temperatura foi favorável para o aumento dos valores da constante dielétrica da formulação equimolar com maior percentual de dopantes. Já o efeito da temperatura com a composição surtiu um efeito muito negativo para os valores de fator de qualidade mecânica da formulação dopada com mais ferro. Para os valores de constante de freqüência da formulação com maior percentagem de nióbio, o efeito da temperatura com a composição gerou um efeito positivo. / The piezoelectric ceramics studied in this work, Pb1.03Zr0.53Ti0.47O3, Pb1.03Zr0.525Nb0.05Ti0.465Fe0.005O3, Pb1.03Zr0.515Nb0.015Ti0.465Fe0.005O3, Pb1.03Zr0.525Nb0.005Ti0.455Fe0.015O3 and Pb1.03Zr0.515Nb0.015Ti0.455Fe0.015O3, were all of them sintered between 1200oC and 1250oC for 3.5h. After that, their piezoelectric properties were investigated. In the present work, oxides were used as raw material in both, matrices and dopants. The mixture of the precursor oxides were calcinaned at 850oC during 3.5h for obtaining the PZT phase. The precursor oxides, the powders and the PZT samples went through characterization tests in order to have their microstructures, densities and physical properties correctly determined. After the powders had been conformed and performed the sinterization process, the PZT ceramics were polarized and their piezoelectric properties determined by using an impedancemeter working in the frequency from 100 KHz to 200 KHz. The obtained results from laser dispersion had revealed agglomeration of lead and zirconium oxide. The calcined samples presented particle sizes from 0.44 &#956;m to 0.63 &#956;m. The density analyses using the Archimedes method indicated a good densification of the sintered samples and a weak influence of the sintering temperature on the obtained density values, whose values ranged from 95.73 to 97.65 % of the theoretical density value. Analysis performed using the scanning electron microscopy technique (MEV) revealed that the sintered samples had showed a correlation between the type and concentration of the dopant with their fracture mode, which were transgranular when Fe prevails over the Nb as dopant, and intergranular, when is the Nb that prevails over the Fe as dopant. By the other side, from increasing the sintering temperature resulted transgranular fractures, independently of which type and content of dopant had been used, except for the equimolar case with relatively low content of dopant, whose results were not consistent with the literature related to this material. About the piezoelectric properties, the results had showed that the combination of the dopant composition with the sintering temperature had brought better values of dielectric constant for the equimolar formulation with more content of dopant. Relating to the mechanical quality factor, from the combination of the dopant composition with the sintering temperature had decreased the factor when Fe prevails over Nb and increased the frequency factor when is the Nb that prevails over the Fe.

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / As cerâmicas piesoelétricas estudadas neste trabalho (Pb1,03Zr0,53Ti0,47O3, Pb1,03Zr0,525Nb0,05Ti0,465Fe0,005O3, Pb1,03Zr0,515Nb0,015Ti0,465Fe0,005O3, Pb1,03Zr0,525Nb0,005Ti0,455Fe0,015O3 e Pb1,03Zr0,515Nb0,015Ti0,455Fe0,015O3) foram sinterizadas a 1200oC e 1250oC por 3,5 h a fim de que suas propriedades piesoelétricas fossem investigadas. Nas composições dos PZT obtidas, a matriz e os dopantes empregaram óxidos como matérias primas. As misturas dos óxidos precursores foram calcinadas a 850oC por 3,5 h para obtenção da fase PZT. Os precursores, os pós e os corpos de prova de PZT foram caracterizados quanto às microestruturas, densidades e propriedades físicas. Após a conformação dos pós e a sinterização, os materiais cerâmicos foram polarizados para caracterização de suas propriedades piesoelétricas através de um impedancímetro na faixa de freqüência de 100 KHz a 200 KHz. Os resultados de dispersão de laser dos precursores revelaram aglomeração do óxido de chumbo e óxido de zircônio. As composições calcinadas apresentaram tamanho de partícula na faixa de 0,44 &#956;m a 0,63 &#956;m. As análises de densidade por método de Arquimedes indicaram uma boa densificação dos corpos de prova sinterizados e pouca influência da temperatura de sinterização com uma escala de valores de 95,73 a 97,65% da densidade teórica. As análises de microscopia eletrônica de varredura revelaram que os sinterizados contendo concentrações diferentes de dopantes exibem uma correlação do tipo e teor de dopante com a natureza da fratura, sendo transgranular, quando dopante ferro for predominante e intergranular, quando o dopante Nb for predominante. Também, o aumento da temperatura de sinterização resultou em fratura transgranular independente do tipo e da concentração de dopante, exceto para baixo teor de dopante da composição equimolar, cujos resultados não foram consistentes com a literatura sobre o material. No que diz respeito às propriedades piesoelétricas, revelou-se que a combinação da variação da composição com a temperatura foi favorável para o aumento dos valores da constante dielétrica da formulação equimolar com maior percentual de dopantes. Já o efeito da temperatura com a composição surtiu um efeito muito negativo para os valores de fator de qualidade mecânica da formulação dopada com mais ferro. Para os valores de constante de freqüência da formulação com maior percentagem de nióbio, o efeito da temperatura com a composição gerou um efeito positivo. / The piezoelectric ceramics studied in this work, Pb1.03Zr0.53Ti0.47O3, Pb1.03Zr0.525Nb0.05Ti0.465Fe0.005O3, Pb1.03Zr0.515Nb0.015Ti0.465Fe0.005O3, Pb1.03Zr0.525Nb0.005Ti0.455Fe0.015O3 and Pb1.03Zr0.515Nb0.015Ti0.455Fe0.015O3, were all of them sintered between 1200oC and 1250oC for 3.5h. After that, their piezoelectric properties were investigated. In the present work, oxides were used as raw material in both, matrices and dopants. The mixture of the precursor oxides were calcinaned at 850oC during 3.5h for obtaining the PZT phase. The precursor oxides, the powders and the PZT samples went through characterization tests in order to have their microstructures, densities and physical properties correctly determined. After the powders had been conformed and performed the sinterization process, the PZT ceramics were polarized and their piezoelectric properties determined by using an impedancemeter working in the frequency from 100 KHz to 200 KHz. The obtained results from laser dispersion had revealed agglomeration of lead and zirconium oxide. The calcined samples presented particle sizes from 0.44 &#956;m to 0.63 &#956;m. The density analyses using the Archimedes method indicated a good densification of the sintered samples and a weak influence of the sintering temperature on the obtained density values, whose values ranged from 95.73 to 97.65 % of the theoretical density value. Analysis performed using the scanning electron microscopy technique (MEV) revealed that the sintered samples had showed a correlation between the type and concentration of the dopant with their fracture mode, which were transgranular when Fe prevails over the Nb as dopant, and intergranular, when is the Nb that prevails over the Fe as dopant. By the other side, from increasing the sintering temperature resulted transgranular fractures, independently of which type and content of dopant had been used, except for the equimolar case with relatively low content of dopant, whose results were not consistent with the literature related to this material. About the piezoelectric properties, the results had showed that the combination of the dopant composition with the sintering temperature had brought better values of dielectric constant for the equimolar formulation with more content of dopant. Relating to the mechanical quality factor, from the combination of the dopant composition with the sintering temperature had decreased the factor when Fe prevails over Nb and increased the frequency factor when is the Nb that prevails over the Fe.

This work is focused on Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations of oxygen vacancy diffusion barriers in mixed perovskite lead zirconate titanate and its pure counterparts. We found out that barrier heights are different in lead titanate and lead zirconate caused by the different localization of the excess electrons due to the oxygen vacancy formation. Diffusion barriers were also determined for titanium-rich mixed phases and compared to experimental values. This work contributes to clarify unusually low experimentally measured diffusion coefficients in PZT. We found out that the induced vacancy states are forming localized bonds to the lead atoms which causes the oxygen vacancies to become immobile due to the increase of the activation energy of the diffusion process.

Methods for reliability assessment and a deep understanding of degradation mechanisms are important for product and process development. In this work, reliability under electrical stress of a state-of-the-art integrated low-temperature PVD PZT Film stack is discussed. DC and AC lifetime under electric stress are investigated experimentally over wide ranges of temperature and applied electric field. Empirical Weibull analysis and comparison of the obtained Weibull slope is used to evaluate suitable acceleration ranges for empirical testing. Changes of the Weibull slope above a temperature of 150 °C and gradual change over voltage acceleration in the range of 100 kV/cm to 200 kV/cm were found. This indicates that accelerated lifetime testing in the temperature range below 150 °C is possible and caution is required for voltage acceleration. The results of this study are also published in Ref. (a). Closing the literature gap, time to breakdown data under unipolar AC electric stress is presented. Comparison with results obtained under DC electric stress reveals that the DC degradation mechanism still dominates under unipolar AC load. This observation was found to hold over tested AC frequency, DC offset, and temperature ranges. As consequence, AC lifetime can be predicted based on DC time to breakdown experiments (b). To enhance the physical understanding of degradation and breakdown, variation of the leakage current over time during electrical load is analyzed. An enhanced physical model for leakage current degradation is proposed and degradation kinetics are studied experimentally. For the first time, more than one defect species being active and manifesting in leakage current degradation of perovskite oxides are proposed and experimental evidence is presented to substantiate the hypotheses. Model predictions and experimental results are found to be in excellent agreement. The proposed characterization method allows for characterization of contributing defect types by associated charge and true activation energy (c). Based on experimental observations, a direct connection between leakage current degradation mechanism and time dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) mechanism is proposed and formulated in a physical model. For the first time, kinetics of leakage current degradation and TDDB are successfully linked, using new evaluation methods for the experimental data obtained under DC and AC electrical stress. This pioneering connection between leakage current and breakdown ultimately leads to the fundament of a comprehensive HALT model. Fundamental implications of the new findings on reliability testing of high-k dielectrics are discussed. / Methoden zur Zuverlässigkeitsbewertung und ein tiefes Verständnis der Degradationsmechanismen sind wichtig für die Produkt- und Prozessentwicklung. In dieser Arbeit wird die Zuverlässigkeit eines auf dem Stand der Technik befindlichen integrierten niedertemperatur PVD PZT Dünnschichtstapels unter elektrischer Last diskutiert. Lebenszeit unter Gleichstrom- (DC) und Wechselstromlast (AC) werden experimentell über weite Bereiche der Temperatur und angelegter Feldstärke untersucht. Empirische Weibull Analyse und Vergleich der erhaltenen Weibull-Module werden verwendet, um Beschleunigungsbereiche für empirische Testverfahren zu bewerten. Eine Veränderung der Weibull-Module oberhalb von 150 °C und eine graduelle Veränderung für Spannungsbeschleunigung im Bereich von 100 kV/cm bis 200 kV/cm wurden festgestellt. Dies weist darauf hin, dass beschleunigte Lebenszeittests im Temperaturbereich unterhalb von 150 °C möglich sind, Spannungsbeschleunigung jedoch mit hoher Vorsicht zu bewerten ist. Die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchung sind ebenfalls in Ref. (a) veröffentlicht. Durch die Präsentation von Durchbruchzeiten unter unipolarer AC-Belastung wird eine Forschungslücke geschlossen. Ein Vergleich mit Ergebnissen, die unter Gleichstrombelastung erhoben wurden zeigt, dass Degradationsmechanismen, die unter DC aktiv sind unter unipolarer AC-Belastung das Durchbruchverhalten weiterhin dominieren. Diese Beobachtung hat Bestand über die untersuchten Bereiche von AC-Frequenz, DC-Versatz und Temperatur. Daraus folgt, dass Lebenszeit unter AC-Belastung durch Experimente unter DC vorhergesagt werden kann (b). Um das physikalische Verständins von Degradation und Durchbruch zu erweitern, wird die Veränderung des Leckstroms über elektrischer Belastungszeit analysiert. Ein erweitertes physikalisches Modell für die Leckstromdegradation wird vorgeschlagen und die Degradationskinetik wird experimentell untersucht. Zum ersten Mal, werden mehr als zwei aktive Defektarten, die sich in der Leckstromdegradation von Perowskit Oxiden abzeichnen eingebracht und durch experimentelle Befunde untermauert. Modellvorhersagen und experimentelle Ergebnisse zeigen eine exzellente Übereinstimmung. Die vorgeschlagene Charakterisierungsmethode erlaubt die Charakterisierung der beteiligten Defektarten über zugeordneter Ladung und wahrer Aktivierungsenergie (c). Basierend auf experimentellen Beobachtungen wird ein direkter Zusammenhang zwischen Leckstromdegradation und zeitabhängigem dielektrischen Durchbruchmechanismus (TDDB) vorgeschlagen und in einem physikalischen Modell abgebildet. Zum ersten Mal werden die Kinetik hinter Leckstromdegradation und TDDB über neue Auswerteverfahren der erhobenen experimentellen Daten unter DC- und AC-Belastung erfolgreich verknüpft. Dieser wegweisende Zusammenhang zwischen Leckstromdegradation und Durchbruch legt das Fundament zu einer verständnisbasierten stark beschleunigten Grenzlastprüfung. Grundlegende Auswirkungen der neuen Ergebnisse auf Zuverlässigkeitstestmethoden von high-k Dielektrika werden diskutiert.