Innovative dielectrics for semiconductor technology

The synthesis and the characterization of dielectrics with very high and very low relative permittivity k, are one of the challenges for scaling the dimensions of microelectronic devices. It will be shown that unique and useful insight on high k thin films and about the surface termination of internal buried empty space (k = 1) can be obtained by combining different positron annihilation spectroscopies. Characterization of nano-cavities in Si and of HfO2 high k thin films will be presented and discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.