A new design concept for diffusion barriers in high-density memory capacitors is suggested, and both RuTiN (RTN) and Ru-TiO (RTO) films are proposed as sacrificial oxygen diffusion barriers. The newly developed RTN and RTO barriers show a much lower sheet resistance than various other barriers, including binary and ternary nitrides (reported by others), up to 800degreesC, without a large increase in the resistance. For both the Pt/RTN/TiSix/n(++)poly-plug/n(+) channel layer/Si and the Pt/RTO/ RTN/TiSix/n(++)poly-plug/n(-) channel layer/Si contact structures, contact resistance -the most important electrical parameter for the diffusion barrier in the bottom electrode structure of capacitors-was found to be as low as 5 kohm, even after annealing up to 750degreesC. When the RTN film was inserted as a glue layer between the bottom Pt electrode layer and the TiN barrier film in the chemical vapor deposited (Ba,Sr)TiO3 (CVD-BST) simple stack-type structure, the RTN glue layer was observed to be thermally stable to temperatures 150 degreesC higher than that to which the TiN glue layer is stable. Moreover, the capacitance of the physical vapor deposited (PVD)-BST simple stack-type structure adopted TiN glue layer initially degraded after annealing at 500degreesC, and, thereafter, completely failed. In the case of the RTN and RTO/RTN glue layers, however, the capacitance continuously increased up to 550degreesC. Thus, the new RTN and RTO films, which act as diffusion barriers to oxygen, are very promising materials for achieving high-density capacitors.