Detection of strain minimization in Hf-based gate dielectrics by X-ray absorption and non-linear optical second harmonic generation spectroscopy

In order to move circuits and systems on a chip to higher levels of integration as required by ULSI technology, it becomes increasing more important to minimize local bond and macroscopic strain in CMOS and advanced CMOS devices. This paper combines linear and non-linear spectroscopic methods and theory to study strain minimization in non-crystalline and nanocrystalline Hf-based high-k dielectrics.