Due to its high dielectric constant, large band gap, and very small lattice mismatch with Si, CeO2 has been proposed as a promising candidate high-κ dielectric material. The performance of CeO2 as a dielectric material, however, is severely limited due its propensity for facile reduction (oxygen vacancy formation), which causes a high interface state density, and subsequent decreased drain currents. In this article we use density functional theory (DFT) to screen for trivalent dopants which could decrease the concentration of defects in CeO2 samples. We demonstrate that La and Y are the most soluble trivalent dopants in CeO2, and can reduce the number of the electrons in the system both ionically (formation of [MCe–VO–MCe] clusters) or to a lesser extent electronically (hole formation). La doping also increases the lattice constant of CeO2, improving the lattice match with Si.
You have access to this article
Please wait while we load your content...
Something went wrong. Try again?