Abstract
We have applied spectroscopic ellipsometry to investigate $high-{\kappa}$ dielectric thin films and correlate their optical properties with fabrication processes, in particular, with high temperature annealing. The use of high-k dielectrics such as $HfO_{2}$, $Ta_{2}O_{5}$, $TiO_{2}$, and $ZrO_{2}$ as the replacement for $SiO_{2}$ as the gate dielectric in CMOS devices has received much attention recently due to its high dielectric constant. From the characteristics found in the pseudo-dielectric functions or the Tauc-Lorentz dispersions, the optical properties such as optical band gap, polycrystallization, and optical density will be discussed.