We show the electric dipole layer formed at a high-k/SiO2 interface can be explained by the imbalance between the migration of oxygen ions and metal cations across the high-k/SiO2 interface. Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed for Al2O3/SiO2, MgO/SiO2, and SrO/SiO2 interfaces. The simulations qualitatively reproduce the experimentally observed flatband voltage (V FB) shifts of these systems. In the case of the Al2O3/SiO2 interface, a dipole layer is formed by the migration of oxygen ions from the Al2O3 side to the SiO2 side. By way of contrast, opposite dipole moments appear at the MgO/SiO2 and SrO/SiO2 interfaces, because of a preferential migration of metal cations from the high-k oxide toward the SiO2 layer in the course of the formation of a stable silicate phase. These results indicate that the migrations of both oxygen ions and metal cations are responsible for the formation of the dipole layer in high-k/SiO2 interfaces.

We show that electric dipole layer at Al 2 O 3 /SiO 2 interface is reproduced by classical molecular dynamics simulation with a simple two-body rigid ion model. The dipole layer was spontaneously formed by the migration of oxygen ions from Al 2 O 3 side to SiO 2 side. Built-in potential at the Al 2 O 3 / SiO 2 is estimated to about 0.35 V, which roughly compares with the experimental value of the flat band voltage shift. Contrary, no significant dipole layer appeared at Y 2 O 3 /SiO 2 interface. The simulation results are explained in terms of the difference in the magnitude of multipole moments around cations of these oxides.

The phonon dispersion relation in 〈100〉 Si nanowire (SiNW) is calculated by employing a realistic atomistic model surrounded by thin SiO2 layer. We performed molecular dynamics simulations to calculate the dynamical structure factor by the space-time Fourier transform of atomic trajectories, and extracted the phonon dispersion relations. In the SiNWs, low energy phonon branches spread into broad spectra due to the presence of the SiO2 film, which is considered as the origin of the thermal conductivity degradation. A softening of the transverse optical mode also appears due to the lattice strain induced by the outer oxide film. This work suggests that the presence of amorphous oxide layer is crucial factor to characterize phonon vibration properties in practical SiNWs.

Electric dipole layer formation at high-k/SiO2 interface is reproduced by classical molecular dynamics simulation based on a simple two-body rigid ion model (1). The dipole layer was spontaneously formed by the migration of oxygen ions across the high-k/SiO2 interface. In case of Al2O3/SiO2, a part of oxygen ions of Al2O3 penetrated into the SiO2 side, resulting in the formation of a built-in potential of about 0.5 V. The opposite migration of oxygen ions, from SiO2 side to high-k oxide side, is also reproduced by using different potential parameters of ionic radius and effective charge. The simulation result suggests that the dipole is not merely formed by the oxygen density difference. Rather, oxygen ions are driven by some interatomic forces at the interface. We discuss the origin of the driving force of the oxygen migration in terms of the multipole moments around cations in the oxides.