Misra - Invited Speaker

In recent years, high-k dielectrics have been successfully implemented in CMOS logic devices wherein their use has led to lower leakages, better gate control and in turn continued downscaling. While high-k dielectrics materials and process flows are continuously being fine tuned for logic devices, their applications in other non-CMOS insertion are also rapidly emerging. In this talk, we discussed our recent work on exploring high-k dielectrics for various new applications. We have realized high-k dielectrics in non-volatile memories and have exploited barrier engineering to achieve asymmetry in tunneling rates. In the area of nanocrystal FLASH memories, we have investigated ALD nanoparticle formation as a function of the high-k dielectric and have shown a strong dependence on the surface. We have also investigated these high-k dielectric stacks for improving the performance of molecular memories. We also presented the advantages of using high-k dielectrics in power semiconductor applications such as SiC MOSFETs. Finally, we summarized the outlook of some emerging nanotechnologies which can benefit from high-k dielectrics.