Rare-earth oxide thin films for gate dielectrics in microelectronics

Rare-earth oxides as dielectric materials may find their most important use in microelectronics as gate oxides in transistors. This paper reviews the literature on rare-earth oxide thin films and their use as dielectrics. Besides binary oxides and their combinations, ternary oxides with aluminum and silicon are also highlighted. Thin films have most often been fabricated by physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods but recently the chemical methods have gained considerable attention. Especially, atomic layer deposition (ALD) of rare-earth containing oxides has recently been studied by several groups.