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In this letter, we investigated a dominant mechanism for leakage reduction by the incorporation of La in a \HfO2\/SiO2 gate stack. We compared the experimental data for the leakage current for the La-doped \HfO2 \/SiO2 gate stack and the calculation for tunnel current through the gate stack, assuming that the La-induced dipole increases the barrier height of \HfO2 for electrons from the substrate. The agreement between the experimental data and calculated values strongly suggests that the main cause for leakage reduction is the effective barrier height modulation induced by the interface dipole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strained-silicon-on-insulator (SSOI) undoped-body high-\kappa/metal-gate n-channel fin-shaped field-effect transistors (nFinFETs) at scaled gate lengths and pitches (i.e., LGATE\sim\!\!\25\ nm and a contacted gate pitch of 130 nm) were fabricated using a gate-first flow. A “long and narrow” fin layout (i.e., fin length \sim\!\!\1\ \mu\m) was leveraged to preserve uniaxial tensile strain in the transistors. These devices exhibit drive currents suitable for high-performance logic technology. The change in the slope of RON - LGATE\ (\rm dRON/\dLGATE), transconductance GMSAT, and injection velocity (vinj) measurements indicate a \sim15% mobility-induced ION enhancement with SSOI relative to SOI nFinFETs at ultrashort gate lengths. Raman measurements conducted on SSOI substrates after fin formation demonstrate the preservation of \sim1.3-GPa uniaxial tensile strain even after 1100 ^\circ\C annealing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]