Epitaxial praseodymium oxide: a new high-k dielectric

Praseodymium oxides, Pr
₂
0
₃
, grown epitaxially on Si(001) is a promising candidate for highly scaled gate insulators, displaying sufficiently high-K value of 31, ultralow leakage current density good reliability, and reversible electrical breakdown. The Pr
₂
0
₃
/Si(001) interface exhibits the symmetric band alignment, desired for applying such material in both n- and p-type devices. The valence band as well as the conduction band offset to Si are in the order 1 eV. The electron masses in the oxide have to be very heavy. This effect together with the suitable band offsets leads to the unusually low leakage currents.