In this study, we investigated the characteristics of various lanthanum hafnium oxide (LHO) films with different lanthanum (La) concentrations deposited by an electron cyclotron resonance plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (ECR-ALD). Tris(isopropyl-cyclopentadienyl)lanthanum (La(iPrCp)(3)) and tetrakis (ethyl methylamino)hafnium (TEMAHf) were utilized as the La and hafnium (Hf) precursors, respectively. When the La/(La + Hf) atomic percent ratio was 49.1%, the growth rate of the LHO film was 0.5 angstrom/cycle, with a dielectric constant of 16.3. As the La concentration was increased, the dielectric constant decreased. In addition, we found that a La-hydrate phase (La-O-H) can be easily formed when the La/(La + Hf) is over about 50%. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.