Leakage Resistant RRAM/MIM Structure

An integrated circuit device, comprising:

• a substrate;
• a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure formed over the substrate, the MIM structure being either a resistive random access memory (RRAM) cell or an MIM capacitor;
• wherein the MIM structure includes a bottom electrode, a first dielectric layer, and a top electrode;
• the bottom electrode and the top electrode are spaced apart from one another by different vertical distances for different locations across the bottom electrode;
• the first dielectric layer is positioned between the bottom electrode and the top electrode where the top and bottom electrodes are separated by a minimum vertical distance;
• and
• the bottom electrode and the top electrode are configured whereby a shortest path starting from any point on a perimeter of the top electrode and continuing to the bottom electrode is greater than the minimum vertical distance.

A metal-insulator-metal device, comprising:

• a bottom metal electrode including a central bottom electrode region which is laterally surrounded by a peripheral bottom electrode region;
• a top metal electrode including a central top electrode region which is arranged over the central bottom electrode region and which is laterally surrounded by a peripheral top electrode region arranged over the peripheral bottom electrode region, wherein a first vertical distance separates the central bottom electrode region from the central top electrode region and a second vertical distance separates the peripheral bottom electrode region from the peripheral top electrode region, the second vertical distance being greater than the first vertical distance;
• a first dielectric layer covering an upper surface of the peripheral bottom electrode region without extending over the central bottom electrode region;
• and
• a second dielectric layer extending over the first dielectric layer and extending over the central bottom electrode region to separate the bottom metal electrode from the top metal electrode.