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Atomic-scale investigation of the dielectric screening at the interface between silicon and its oxide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Feliciano Giustino
Affiliation:
Institut de Théorie des Phénomènes Physiques (ITP), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland, and Institut Romand de Recherche Numérique en Physique des Matériaux (IRRMA), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Alfredo Pasquarello
Affiliation:
Institut de Théorie des Phénomènes Physiques (ITP), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland, and Institut Romand de Recherche Numérique en Physique des Matériaux (IRRMA), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
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Abstract

We investigate the dielectric screening across the Si-SiO2 interface using a first-principle approach. By determining the profile of the microscopic polarization and the effective polarizabilities of SiOn (n = 0,‥4) structural units, we show that the variation of the local screening across the interface relates to the chemical grading. The oxide region near the Si substrate shows the same dielectric permittivity as bulk SiO2 as long as the oxide is locally stoichiometric. The suboxide region carries an enhanced permittivity, with a value intermediate between those corresponding to bulk Si and SiO2. The implications of these findings for the scalability of the equivalent oxide thickness in high-κ gate stacks are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

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References

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