Band offsets of high K gate oxides on III-V semiconductors

III-V semiconductors have high mobility and will be used in field effect transistors with the appropriate gate dielectric. The dielectrics must have band offsets over 1 eV to inhibit leakage. The band offsets of various gate dielectrics including HfO2, Al2O3, Gd2O3, Si3N4, and SiO2 on III-V semiconductors such as GaAs, InAs, GaSb, and GaN have been calculated using the method of charge neutrality levels. Generally, the conduction band offsets are found to be over 1 eV, so they should inhibit leakage for these dielectrics. On the other hand, SrTiO3 has minimal conduction band offset. The valence band offsets are also reasonably large, except for Si nitride on GaN and Sc2O3 on GaN which are 0.6-0.8 eV. There is reasonable agreement with experiment where it exists, although the GaAs:SrTiO3 case is even worse in experiment. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.