Thermal Properties of Ultrathin Hafnium Oxide Gate Dielectric Films

Thin-film HfO2 is a promising gate dielectric material that will influence thermal conduction in modern transistors. This letter reports the temperature dependence of the intrinsic thermal conductivity and interface resistances of 56-200-angstrom-thick HfO2 films. A picosecond pump-probe thermoreflectance technique yields room-temperature intrinsic thermal conductivity values between 0.49 and 0.95 W/( m . K). The intrinsic thermal conductivity and interface resistance depend strongly on the film-thickness-dependent microstructure.