ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the characteristics of common high K dielectric films and potential high K dielectric films. The evolution in digital microelectronics technology is intimately tied to the successful miniaturization of CMOS FET transistors both in horizontal dimension through feature size scaling and in vertical dimension through oxide scaling. This process of miniaturization not only reduced power and enhanced performance but also enabled digital functions at reduced cost. The application of high K dielectric film preceded that of the FET gate insulator for nearly a decade in DRAM capacitor structures, replacing conventional oxide/nitride films, enabling capacitor scalability. All applications require high K films to be amorphous, thermally stable, non-reactive at the interfaces, chemically inert, thickness (EOT) scalable, selectively etchable, reproducible, large band gap, high K value, low leakage, field-stress-stable, high breakdown strength, and stable properties for the end-of-life application conditions.
