British researchers from the university of Cambridge have developed a new form of the semiconductor hafniumoxide developed. The improved form of the commonly used transistormateriaal would smaller transistors.
The research group of Andrew Flewitt Department of Engineering of the university of Cambridge developed a new form of hafniumoxide. That material is normally in crystalline or amorphous condition, but Flewitts team made a new type of hafniumoxide by sputtering. The thin coats of which, as created, were shown to have a higher dielectric constant than the crystalline or amorphous forms.
The dielectric constant of hafniumoxide is precisely where the material is praised; the high dielectric constant of hafniumoxide makes the materials suitable as interlayer in transistorgates, where the leakage currents are limited. The sputtered hafniumdioxde turns out to be a twenty to twenty-five percent higher ” k ” than it is crystalline or amorphous hafniumoxide. Thanks to the higher k-value can be the layer of insulation thinner and thereby also the other transistorcomponenten be reduced.
The improved hafniumoxide-layers were produced with a custom sputter method, which is “high target utilization sputtering”. That process, which hafniumoxidedeeljes of an electrode are separated by high energy ions to bombard, delivers a thin layer of amorphous cubic hafniumoxide that a dielectric constant of about 30, while that in the normal monokliene amorphous state 20.
The cubic, amorphous, hafniumoxide would be under room temperature can be produced, which is a application in plastic electronics. In addition, it would not only for transistors but also for optical applications such as solar cells can be used. The material would be short-term in the semiconductor industry may be used, provided that partners are to be found.
