Hafnium-based High-k Gate Dielectrics

This chapter succinctly reviews the motivation to replace traditional SiO2 gate dielectrics, requirements of high-k dielectrics, brief history of high-k materials development, and latest development in Hf-based high-k dielectrics. In order to improve the performance of CMOS devices, Hf-based gate layers are being integrated into MOSFETs to achieve low leakage current. Excellent gate transistors with improved performance based on Hf-based gate dielectrics as the insulating layers are expected. Although much progress has been made in fabricating novel gate dielectrics, investigation of these Hf-based high-k gate dielectrics