by Ed Korczynski, Senior Technical Editor

Mobility enhancements in ICs have typically been implemented using strain and mostly the same materials, but the industry is now working with high-k dielectrics and metal-gates (HK+MG). Keeping the same leakage levels, going from poly to metal-gate allows for equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) reduction of ~2Å. Applied Materials has released an ALD for hafnium-oxide HK dielectric chamber for the Centura platform that appears to be part of an excellent integrated HK+MG solution. “Integration is critical, since you need almost 15 layers to make this work,” explained Reza Arghavani, in an exclusive interview with WaferNEWS.

A “gate-first” process flow