Bond strain and defects at Si-SiO2 and internal dielectric interfaces in high-k gate stacks

The performance and reliability of aggressively-scaled field effect transistors are determined in large part by electronically-active defects and defect precursors at the Si-SiO2 and internal SiO2-high-k dielectric interfaces. A crucial aspect of reducing interfacial defects and defect precursors is associated with bond-strain-driven bonding interfacial self-organizations that take place during high temperature annealing in inert ambients. The interfacial self-organizations and intrinsic interface defects are addressed through an extension of bond constraint theory from bulk glasses to interfaces between non-crystalline SiO2 and (i) crystalline Si, and (ii) non-crystalline and crystalline alternative gate dielectric materials