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The energy band-alignment of a multimetal-layer gated metal-oxide-semiconductor structure is investigated. An analytical expression for the Fermi level of the metal stack is derived. It is shown that the thin metal layer contacting the gate dielectric plays a critical role in determining the work function of the whole metal stack, in agreement with experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the compatibility of dielectric layers with conventional polysilicon gate electrodes. Use of standard processing equipment; Power capacity; Level of performance.

Abstract: We propose to use carbon nanotube (CNT)–CNT contacts instead of CNT–metal contacts as a route towards low resistance CNT horizontal interconnects. We characterize by electrical transport measurements and Kelvin probe force microscopy the contacts present in CNT horizontal interconnects grown by chemical vapor deposition between titanium nitride electrodes. When two CNTs with diameter around 30nm grow from opposing electrodes and touch each other with their outermost shells, typical contact resistances around 16kΩ are obtained. The corresponding contact resistivity of about 14Ωμm2 is one order of magnitude smaller than the contact resistivity of a CNT touching the TiN surface with its outermost shell. On the other hand, the contact resistance of a CNT grown from a nickel catalyst particle deposited on a TiN electrode is negligibly small when compared to the above mentioned contact resistances. Our results demonstrate that we are able to grow from opposing electrodes CNTs that touch each other with a corresponding high density (up to 1011 cm−2) of CNT–CNT contacts. This may offer an effective solution towards the growth of low resistance CNT horizontal interconnects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses the means of improving the workfunction control of metal gate electrodes. The author cites that the key challenge for applying metal gates for metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor is the choosing of a metal with suitable workfunction. The author also defines a novel route to workfunction control through the alteration of the interface polarization layer by cautious deposition of dielectric stack and metal gate, then, by a temperature treatment.