Novel high-Κ dielectrics for next-generation electronic devices screened by automated ab initio calculations

Abstract

As the scale of transistors and capacitors in electronics is reduced to less than a few nanometers, leakage currents pose a serious problem to the device's reliability. To overcome this dilemma, high-Κ materials that exhibit a larger permittivity and band gap are introduced as gate dielectrics to enhance both the capacitance and block leakage simultaneously. Currently, HfO2 is widely used as a high-Κ dielectric; however, a higher-Κ material remains desired for further enhancement. To find new high-Κ materials, we conduct a high-throughput ab initio calculation for band gap and permittivity. The accurate and efficient calculation is enabled by newly developed automation codes that fully automate a series of delicate methods in a highly optimized manner. We can, thus, calculate>1800 structures of binary and ternary oxides from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database and obtain a total property map. We confirm that the inverse correlation relationship between the band gap and permittivity is roughly valid for most oxides. However, new candidate materials exhibit interesting properties, such as large permittivity, despite their large band gaps. Analyzing these materials, we discuss the origin of large Κ values and suggest design rules to find new high-Κ materials that have not yet been discovered. © 2015 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved