High-k Gate Dielectrics

The scaling of gate oxide thickness in future generations of CMOS transistors is recognized as a major issue in microelectronics. With the scaling imposed by the further shrinkingof CMOS device dimensions, conventional Si02 (and SiOXNy) gate dielectrics exhibit unacceptable levels of gate leakage current, inconsistent with improvingdevice performance. There is a clear and growing industrial need for alternative (high-K) gate dielectrics to replace these traditional materials in the short to medium term. Research undertaken on high-K dielectrics involves contributions from several fields, including materials science, chemistry, physics and electrical and electronic engineering. High-K Gate Dielectrics presents a state-of-the-art overview of research undertaken in this field, consisting of a coherent set of review articles written by internationally recognized researchers. High-K Gate Dielectrics will serve as a reference for researchers in the field, as well as a good introductory book for graduate students working on high-K dielectrics and advanced CMOS devices or taking advanced courses on semiconductor devices and materials for microelectronics applications.