Interface dipole mechanism and NMOS Ni-FUSI gate work function engineering using rare-earth metal (RE)-based dielectric interlayers

A quantitative RE-O interface dipole model was presented to explain Ni-FUSI Phi
_m
using RE-based interlayers (RE
_IL
). The expected strengths of interface RE-O dipole and extracted Phi
_m
values show excellent correlation. It further demonstrates that the NiSi Phi
_m
on high- k dielectrics can be engineered by the insertion of thin RE
_IL
at the high-k/SiO
₂
interface.