The electronic component includes an element body 4 having plurality of side faces 5a to 5d along a circumference direction. The element body 4 includes insulation layers 16a to 16d covering the plurality of side faces 5a to 5d along the circumference direction in a continuous manner, and melting points of the insulation layers 16a to 16d are lower than melting points of dielectric layers 10 and 11 included in the element body 4. The main component of the insulation layer is glass.

A dielectric composition includes a main ingredient having a perovskite structure represented by ABO.sub.3, where A is at least one of Ba, Sr, and Ca and B is at least one of Ti, Zr, and Hf, and a first accessory ingredient. The first accessory ingredient comprises 0.1 mole or more of a rare earth element, 0.02 mole or more of Nb, and 0.25 mole or more and 0.9 mole or less of Mg, a sum of contents of the rare earth element and Nb is 1.5 mole or less.

An integrated circuit device includes a capacitor structure, wherein the capacitor structure includes: a bottom electrode over a substrate; a supporter on a sidewall of the bottom electrode; a dielectric layer on the bottom electrode and the supporter; and a top electrode on the dielectric layer and covering the bottom electrode. The bottom electrode comprises: a base electrode layer over the substrate and extending in a first direction that is perpendicular to a top surface of the substrate, and a conductive capping layer including niobium nitride that is between a sidewall of the base electrode layer and the dielectric layer, and also between a top surface of the base electrode layer and the dielectric layer.

A dielectric material, a device including the same, and a method of preparing the dielectric material are provided. The dielectric material may include a compound represented by the following Formula 1:

K.sub.1+xNaSr.sub.4-2xLa.sub.xNb.sub.10O.sub.30,  Formula 1

wherein, in Formula 1, 0<x<2.

A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having first and second main surfaces that oppose each other in a thickness direction, and a circuit layer disposed on the first main surface. The circuit layer includes a first electrode layer on a side of the semiconductor substrate, a second electrode layer that faces the first electrode layer, a dielectric layer disposed between the electrode layers, and a first outer electrode electrically connected to the first electrode layer through an opening in the dielectric layer. An end portion of the dielectric layer on a side of the first region is in contact with the first electrode layer, and in the dielectric layer, a size of the end portion in the thickness direction is smaller than a size of an inter-electrode portion between the first and second electrode layers in the thickness direction.

Provided are a dielectric, a device including the same, and a method of preparing the dielectric. The dielectric material includes a NaNbO.sub.3 ternary material including a perovskite phase with a Sm element substituted into a Na site such that the NaNbO.sub.3 ternary material has a permittivity of 600 or more at 1 kHz, and a temperature coefficient of capacitance (TCC) of about -15% to about 15% in a range of about -55° C. to about +200° C.

A dielectric composition includes a main component containing tantalum and at least one of barium or strontium, and a subcomponent containing calcium and silicon.

A system that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a thin film capacitor having a substrate, a first electrode layer on the substrate, a first dielectric layer on the first electrode layer where the first dielectric layer has a columnar-oriented grain structure, a group of second dielectric layers stacked on the first dielectric layer where each of the group of second dielectric layers has a randomly-oriented grain structure, and a second electrode layer on the group of second dielectric layers. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Disclosed herein a thin film capacitor that includes a lower electrode layer, an upper electrode layer, and a dielectric layer disposed between the lower electrode layer and the upper electrode layer. The dielectric layer has a through hole. An inner wall surface of the through hole has a first tapered surface and a second tapered surface surrounded by the first tapered surface. The first and second tapered surfaces are not covered with the upper electrode layer and have respective first and second taper angles with respect to a surface of the lower electrode layer. The second taper angle is smaller than the first taper angle.

Ceramic raw material powder includes: a main phase having a perovskite structure, wherein elements acting as a donor and an acceptor are solid-solved in B sites of the perovskite structure, wherein a relationship of (concentration of the element acting as a donor)×(valence of the element acting as a donor−4)<(concentration of the element acting as an acceptor)×(4−valence of the element acting as an acceptor) is satisfied, in a center region of each grain of the ceramic raw material powder, wherein a relationship of (concentration of the element acting as a donor)×(valence of the element acting as a donor−4)>(concentration of the element acting as an acceptor)×(4−valence of the element acting as an acceptor) is satisfied, in a circumference region of each grain of the ceramic raw material powder.