The silicon-based microelectronics industry is rapidly approaching a point where device fabrication can no longer be simply scaled to progressively smaller sizes. Technological decisions must now be made that will substantially alter the directions along which silicon devices continue to develop. One such challenge is the need for higher permittivity dielectrics to replace silicon dioxide, the properties of which have hitherto been instrumental to the industry's success. Considerable efforts have already been made to develop replacement dielectrics for dynamic random-access memories. These developments serve to illustrate the magnitude of the now urgent problem of identifying alternatives to silicon dioxide for the gate dielectric in logic devices, such as the ubiquitous field-effect transistor.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Moore, G. E. Progress in digital integrated electronics. IEEE IEDM Tech. Dig. 11–13 (1975).
Moore G. E. Cramming more components onto integrated circuits. Electronics 38, 114–117 ( 1965).
Semiconductor Industry Association. International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors 1999 edn 〈http://www.itrs.net/ntrs/publntrs.nsf 〉.
Lo, S.-H, Buchanan, D. A., Taur, Y. & Wang, W. Quantum-mechanical modeling of electron tunneling current from the inversion layer of ultra-thin-oxide nMOSFETs. IEEE Electron Device Lett. 18, 209–211 (1997).
Summerfelt, S. R. in Thin Film Ferroelectric Materials and Devices (ed. Ramesh, R.) 1–42 (Kluwer, Boston, MA, 1997).
Kotecki, D. E. A review of high dielectric materials for DRAM applications. Integr. Ferroelec. 16, 1–19 ( 1997).
Kotecki, D. E. et al. (Ba,Sr)TiO3 dielectrics for future stacked-capacitor DRAM. IBM J. Res. Develop. 43, 339– 350 (1999).
Fazan, P. C. et al. Ultrathin oxide nitride dielectrics for rugged stacked DRAM capacitors. IEEE Electron Device Lett. 13, 86–88 (1992).
Hilton, A. D. & Ricketts, B. W. Dielectric properties of Ba xSrxTiO3 ceramics. J. Phys. D 29, 1321–1325 (1996).
Matsubara, S., Sakuma, T., Yamamichi, S., Yamaguchi, H. & Miyasaka, Y. in Ferroelectric Thin Films (eds Kingon, A. I. and Myers, E. R.) (MRS Symp. Proc. 200) 243 –253 (Materials Research Society, Pittsburgh, PA, 1990).
Fazan, P. Trends in the development of ULSI DRAM capacitors. Integr. Ferroelec. 4, 247–256 ( 1994).
Basceri, C., Streiffer, S. K., Kingon, A. I. & Waser, R. The dielectric response of fiber-textured (Ba, Sr)TiO3 thin films grown by chemical vapor deposition. J. Appl. Phys. 82, 2497–2504 (1997).
Streiffer, S. K., Basceri, C., Parker, C. B., Lash, S. E. & Kingon, A. I. Ferroelectricity in thin films: the dielectric response of fiber-textured (BaxSr1-x)Ti 1+yO3+z thin films grown by chemical vapor deposition. J. Appl. Phys. 86, 4565–4575 (1999).
Kingon, A. I., Streiffer, S. K., Basceri, C. & Summerfelt, S. R. Application of high-permittivity perovskite thin films to dynamic random access memories. Mater. Res. Bull. 21, 46– 52 (1996).
Baniecki, J. D. et al. Dielectric relaxation of Ba0. 7Sr0. 3TiO 3 thin films from 1 mHz to 20 GHz. Appl. Phys. Lett. 72, 498–500 (1998).
Horikawa, T., Makita, T. & Mikami, N. Dielectric relaxation of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 thin films. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 34, 5478–5482 (1995).
Lash, S. E. Growth and properties of MOCVD (Ba, Sr)TiO3 thin film capacitors. Thesis, North Carolina State Univ. (1999).
Bilodeau, S. M., Carl, R., Van Buskirk, P. & Ward, J. MOCVD of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 for 1-Gbit DRAMs. Solid State Technol. 40, 235–242 ( 1997).
Buskirk, P. C. V. et al. Common and unique aspects of perovskite thin film CVD processes. Integr. Ferroelec. 21, 273– 289 (1998).
Basceri, C. Electrical and dielectric properties of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 thin film capacitors for ultra-high density dynamic random access memories. Thesis, North Carolina State Univ. (1997).
Grossmann, M. et al. Resistance degradation behavior of Ba0. 7Sr 0. 3TiO3 thin films compared to mechanisms found in titanate ceramics and single crystals. Integr. Ferroelec. 22 , 603–614 (1998).
Wu, E. Y., Stathis, J. H. & Han, L.-K Ultrathin oxide reliability for ULSI applications . Semiconductor Sci. Technol. 15, 425– 435 (2000).
Muller, D. A. et al. The electronic structure at the atomic scale of ultrathin gate oxides. Nature 399, 758– 762 (1999).
Hirose, M. et al. Fundamental limit of gate oxide thickness scaling in advanced MOSFETs. Semiconductor Sci. Technol. 15, 485–490 (2000).
Luan, H. F. et al. High quality Ta2O5 gate dielectrics with Tox. eq>10. IEDM Tech. Digest Int. 141–144 (1999).
Alers, G. B. et al. Intermixing at the tantalum oxide/silicon interface in gate dielectric structures. Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 1517–1519 (1998)
Campbell, S. A. et al. MOSFET transistors fabricated with high permittivity TiO 2 dielectrics. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 44 , 104–109 (1997).
Wilk, G. D., Wallace, R. M. & Anthony, J. M. Hafnium and zirconium silicates for advanced gate dielectrics. J. Appl. Phys. 87, 484– 492 (2000).
Wilk, G. D. & Wallace, R. M. Electrical properties of hafnium silicate gate dielectrics deposited directly on silicon. Appl. Phys. Lett. 74, 2854–2856 (1999).
Cheng, Y. C. & Sullivan, E. A. Scattering of charge carriers in silicon. J. Appl. Phys. 44, 923– 925 (1973).
Eisenbeiser, K. et al. Field effect transistors with SrTiO3 gate dielectric on Si. Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 1324– 1326 (2000).
Hubbard, K. J. & Schlom, D. G. Thermodynamic stability of binary oxides in contact with silicon. J. Mater. Res. 11, 2757–2776 ( 1996).
Copel, M., Gribelyuk, M. & Gusev, E. Structure and stability of ultrathin zirconium oxide layers on Si(001). Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 436–438 (2000).
Gusev, E. P. et al. High-resolution depth profiling in ultrathin AlO3 films on Si. Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 176– 178 (2000).
Shannon, R. D. Dielectric polarizabilities of ions in oxides and fluorides. J. Appl. Phys. 73, 348–366 (1993).
Schlom, D. G. High-K candidates for use as the gate dielectric in silicon MOSFETs. Appl. Phys. A (in the press).
Hergenrother, J. M. et al. The vertical replacement-gate (VRG) MOSFET: a 50-nm vertical MOSFET with lithographically-independent gate length. IEDM Tech. Digest 75–78 (1999).
Acknowledgements
Research by the authors on the topic of dielectrics for DRAMs and gate dielectrics is funded by SRC and Sematech. Research results contributed by students D. Wicaksana and J. Parrette are gratefully acknowledged. Some data presented are from research undertaken by the US Ultradense Capacitor Materials Processing Partnership. Thanks to C. Parker and C. Osburn for assistance with the figures, and to R. Amos (IBM) for a critical reading of the manuscript. S.K.S. acknowledges support by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kingon, A., Maria, JP. & Streiffer, S. Alternative dielectrics to silicon dioxide for memory and logic devices . Nature 406, 1032–1038 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35023243
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35023243
This article is cited by
-
Wafer-scale high-κ dielectrics for two-dimensional circuits via van der Waals integration
Nature Communications (2023)
-
Single-crystalline van der Waals layered dielectric with high dielectric constant
Nature Materials (2023)
-
Magnetic and robust dielectric properties in distorted double perovskite Gd2CuTiO6
Applied Physics A (2023)
-
Design and analysis of novel high-performance III-nitride MQW-based nanowire white-LED using HfO2/SiO2 encapsulation
Optical and Quantum Electronics (2023)
-
Van der Waals integration of high-κ perovskite oxides and two-dimensional semiconductors
Nature Electronics (2022)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.