Titanium dioxide (TiO2) based gate insulators are being considered seriously for next generation metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor applications due to its high permittivity. In this work, ultrathin TiO2 films have been deposited at 150 degreesC on carbon implanted solid phase epitaxy grown strained Si1-yCy layers by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using titanium tetrakis isopropoxide and oxygen. The deposited films have been analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for chemical composition. Using a metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitor structure, the interfacial and electrical properties of the deposited films have been characterized in the temperature range 25-125 degreesC. The leakage current has been found to be dominated by the Schottky emission at a low electric field, whereas Poole-Frenkel emission takes over at higher fields. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.