Tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) films were deposited from the reaction of tantalum pentaethoxide (Ta(OC2H5)(5)) and oxygen (O-2) using the Lam Research Corporation DSM 9800(TM) advanced LPCVD reactor. Typical films were deposited at a rate of 0.9-1.1 nm min(-1) at 400 degrees C. The films were stoichiometric with an O/Ta ratio of 2.57:1.00 and excellent compositional uniformity. Conformity was >95% indicating that the process is surface reaction rate limited. Films with non-uniformities <2.2% were deposited on 300 mm wafers. The deposited nonuniformity on 150 and 200 mm wafers were <2.0% - 1 sigma within a wafer, wafer to wafer within a batch, and batch to batch. The dielectric constant for as-deposited films were 22-24, and as high as 34 for films which were heat treated. Various post deposition heat treatments were performed to improve the capacitor’s electrical properties. Superior results were obtained from rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in N2O compared with RTA in O-2 and two-step UV-O-3 followed by high temperature annealing in dry O-2. Values for the leakage current of <10(-8) A cm(-2) at 1.2 V negative bias (worst case) and breakdown >5 MV cm(-1) at 1.6 mu A with t(eq ox) <2.5 nm have been obtained. These values meet the requirements for 256 Mbit DRAM memory devices. Bottom and top electrode formation and integration issues are also addressed.