Achievements and challenges for the electrical performance of MOSFETs with high-k gate dielectrics

In this paper, the electrical performance of high-k dielectrics for future technology generations is discussed. Despite major achievements in the development of high-k dielectrics, such as the gate leakage reduction - which is the main motivation why high-k dielectrics are being introduced - and the successful integration in small MOSFET devices, some major problems remain to be solved. These problems are threshold voltage control and stability, mobility and drive current performance and reliability problems. Significant progress in the performance of these layers was made by the use of engineered interfaces and optimized high-k stacks.