An investigation of dielectric permittivity on the sintered
high
entropy oxide (HEO) capacitor composed of Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, and Ni (i.e.,
(CoCrFeMnNi)O) developed using solution combustion synthesis is performed.
Stabilization of the phase in HEO is extremely important as it has
a direct influence on the properties. In order to explore phase stabilization,
in-depth studies of thermal, structural, morphological, and compositional
analyses are carried out. The optimized processing parameters are
further implemented on depositing (CoCrFeMnNi)O dielectric thin films
followed by a thin film transistor. Irrespective of the reaction medium,
the precursors undergo combustion at a low temperature below 250 °C,
resulting in amorphous HEO. Upon crystallization at 500 °C, no
secondary impurity oxides were detected and phase-stabilized to a
spinel structure (Fd3m). A homogeneous
distribution of all five cations without any segregation and a completely
disordered occupancy of the cations were displayed by the bulk and
thin films of HEOs. The spinel (CoCrFeMnNi)O exhibited high permittivity,
with values approximately 7.3 × 102 (in bulk) and
3 × 101 (in a thin film), measured at 1 kHz owing
to the entropy stabilization effect of HEO. Due to their high permittivity
and low leakage current density (∼10–8 A/cm2), the (CoMnNiFeCr)O thin film was integrated into thin film
transistors (TFTs) with molybdenum disulfide-channel. TFTs showed
a field effect mobility of 8.8 cm2 V–1 s–1, an on–off ratio of approximately 105, a threshold voltage of −1.5 V, and a subthreshold
swing of 0.38 V/dec. The low voltage operation (<5 V) of these
TFTs makes solution combustion-derived HEO (CoMnNiFeCr)O a potential
candidate in microelectronics and optoelectronics applications.