A paper co-authored in 2001 by Dr. Robert M. Wallace, professor of electrical engineering and physics at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), has been recognized by the American Institute of Physics (AIP) as being among the high impact papers published in the organization’s Journal of Applied Physics – Applied Physics Reviews as part of AIP’s 75th anniversary celebration.
The paper, titled “High-k gate dielectrics: Current status and material properties considerations,” is one of 45 papers deemed to be high impact that appeared in AIP’s nine journals. According to the Science Citation Index, the paper has received nearly 1,200 citations in the literature. Generally, the number of times a work is cited reflects its impact on a field.
 Dr. Robert Wallace, professor of electrical engineering and physics at UTD, is being recognized for a paper he helped write in 2001 titled, “High-k gate dielectrics: Current status and material properties considerations.” |
The paper reviews the basic materials issues for the “heart” of the integrated circuit – the transistor. For years, electronic components have gotten faster and cheaper due to a calculated shrinking of the transistor every several years. However, researchers are reaching the limits of the ability to shrink the dimensions of the materials that the industry has used for more than 40 years. New materials must be introduced to enable the shrink process (called “scaling”) to continue, and high dielectric constant (“high-k”) insulators are but one example of the new materials being considered for this purpose.
AIP was founded in 1931 for the purpose of promoting the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics and its application to human welfare. Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, AIP has more than 110,000 members in ten member societies that represent the spectrum of the physical sciences.