Abstract
As the gate oxide thickness decreases below 2 nm, the gate leakage current increases dramatically due to direct t tunneling current. This large gate leakage current will be an obstacle to reducing gate oxide thickness for the high speed operation of future devices. A MOS transistor with Ta 2 O 5 gate dielectric is fabricated and characterized as a possible replacement for MOS transistors with ultra-thin gate silicon dioxide. M Mobility, I d -V d I d -V g , gate leakage current, and capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of Ta 2 O 5 transistors are evaluated and compared with SiO 2 transistors. The gate leakage current is three to five orders smaller for Ta 2 O 5 transistors than SiO 2 transistors.