The energy barrier heights between two recently reported Ta-based amorphous metals
(TaWSi and TaNiSi), TaN, and atomic layer deposited Al 2 O 3 and HfO 2 insulators are
measured in metal/insulator/metal (MIM) structures with Au top electrodes using internal
photoemission (IPE) spectroscopy. For Al 2 O 3, the Ta-based metal barrier heights, φ Bn,
increase with increasing metal work function, Φ M, for TaN, TaWSi, and TaNiSi, respectively.
For HfO 2, however, the barrier heights are relatively constant for all three metals φ Bn …

35 3.1 Introduction Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) and dual-insulator MIM (MIIM) structures are
used in rectifying antennas (rectennas) for infrared energy harvesting, 1–3 hot-electron
transistors, 4, 5 single electron transistors, 6 resistive random access memory (RRAM), 7
and capacitors. 8, 9 These devices require the use of a smooth bottom electrode in order to
produce a uniform electric field across the ultra-thin sandwiched insulator (s). 10, 11
ZrCuAlNi, an ultrasmooth amorphous metal, has seen use as the bottom electrode in MIM …