Abstract
High-κ gate dielectrics are indispensable in modern transistor technology and play a pivotal role in efficient capacitive gating and suppression of leakage currents. However, the realization of industry-compatible high-κ gate dielectrics at a sub-5-Å equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) remains challenging. Here we report the realization of 1.3-nm thick hafnium oxide (HfO2) dielectrics via an industry-compatible multiple oxidation atomic layer deposition process at 200 °C. A low EOT down to 2.5 Å is demonstrated for 1.3-nm thick HfO2 dielectrics on metal gates with a low leakage current of 10−6 A/cm2 and a robust breakdown electric field of ~22.3 MV/cm. Remarkably, such low EOT high-κ/metal gates can be directly implanted into emerging two-dimensional (2D) transistors and low-power logic circuits on 8-inch wafer scale to showcase their potentials. The as-fabricated molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) transistors exhibit a large on-state current density of 260 µA/µm at source-drain bias of 0.5 V, a high on/off ratio of 108, an average subthreshold slope (SS) of 75 mV/dec, and small capacitance equivalent thickness (CET) values of 0.34 nm for gate-first transistors and 0.50 nm for gate-last transistors. Our ultra-scaled dielectrics hold significant promise for advanced semiconductor fabrication processes towards the angstrom era.
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Relevant data supporting the key findings of this study are available within the article and the Supplementary Information file. All raw data generated during the current study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.
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Acknowledgements
G.Z. acknowledges the support by the National Key Research and Development Program (Grant No. 2021YFA1202904), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Grant No. 62488201), and the Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (2021B0301030002). N.L. acknowledges the support of the NFSC (Grant No. 12574200). H.Y. acknowledges the support of the NFSC (Grant No. 62404145). S.W. acknowledges the support by the National Key Research and Development Program (Grant No. 2022YFA1402500). C.S. acknowledges the support by the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (Grant No: 2025ZNSFSC0881). L.D. acknowledges the support by the NFSC (Grant No. 12274447). L.X. acknowledges the support by the NFSC (Grant No. 62341404), Hangzhou Tsientang Education Foundation and the Max Planck Partner group program. X.T. acknowledges the support by Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong SAR Government (No. MRP/020/21) and Research Grants Council Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) 2024/25 (No. T42-513/24-R).
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G.Z. and N.L. co-supervised the project. S.Z. performed the HfO2 film growth, device fabrication, characterizations, and electrical measurements. T.Z., H.G., and L.X. performed DFT calculations. X.L., T.L., and C.C. assisted with the device fabrication and electrical measurements. H.Y., S.W., L.H., and Y.Z. contributed to the 8-inch MoS2 growth and characterizations. S.W., D.Z., L.B., S.L., C.S., W.Y., L.D., D.S., X.T., and Y.C. were involved in data analysis. S.Z., N.L., and G.Z. wrote, and all authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
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Zhang, S., Zhang, T., Yu, H. et al. Wafer-scale high-κ HfO2 dielectric films with sub-5-Å equivalent oxide thickness for 2D MoS2 transistors. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68584-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68584-0
