Abstract
The rapid shrinkage of transistor feature size in Si CMOS technology is now facing a great challenge, namely the thickness of the critical gate oxide thickness is now approaching to the quantum tunneling limit. An immediate remedy is to identify alternative high □ gate dielectrics replacing SiO2 in the near future by year 2007. The ultimate solution will likely be found in adopting compound semiconductors that offer competitive advantages over Si in high-speed computations, and microwave high power applications. Hafnium oxides, HfO2 with a □□of 20 was shown recently to be a promising candidate as alternative gate dielectric for both Si and GaAs CMOSFETs due to its suitable band gap, high dielectrics constant, and good thermal stability in contact with Si and GaAs interfaces.Structural characteristics of these thin films were carried out by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) in conjunction with AFM, and X-ray reflectivity measurements. Electrical analysis were by the AGILENT 4284A and AGILENT 4156C to measure the I-V and C-V characteristics.