Qualitative and quantitative differences between non-crystalline and nano-crystalline oxides in device technologies

This paper presents (i) spectroscopic studies of intrinsic vacated O-site defects in non-crystallin(nc-) SiO
₂
, GeO
₂
and nano-crystalline HfO2 and TiO2, and (ii) proof of concept spectroscopic studies. These indicate electronic structure that favors nc-SiO2 and GeO2 for gate stacks in CMOS devices that push the ultimate limits of thickness scaling reductions, and interfacial engineering. The properties of elemental and multi-constituent TM oxides are determined by a qualitatively and quantitaively different band edge and vacated O-atom site structure that makes them viable candidates for memory and switching devices.