Electronic device with dopant diffusion barrier and tunable work function and methods of making same

An electronic device comprising:

• a substrate;
• a gate dielectric layer disposed over at least a portion of the substrate;
• at least one diffusion-blocking layer disposed over at least a portion of the gate dielectric layer, comprised substantially of a first compound semiconductor and including:
• an alterable diffusion limiting property which is alterable by doping the first compound semiconductor with one or more diffusion-limiting impurities;
• and
• a first tunable work function which is tunable by doping the first compound semiconductor with one or more additional semiconducting elements or semiconducting compounds;
• and
• at least one main layer is substantially surrounded by the at least one diffusion-blocking layer and comprised substantially of a second compound semiconductor having a second tunable work function.

An integrated circuit structure comprising:

• a substrate;
• a gate dielectric layer disposed over at least a portion of the substrate;
• at least one monocrystalline diffusion-blocking layer disposed over at least a portion of the gate dielectric layer, comprised substantially of a first compound semiconductor and including:
• an alterable diffusion limiting property which is alterable by doping the first compound semiconductor with one or more diffusion-limiting impurities;
• and
• a first tunable work function which is tunable by doping the first compound semiconductor with one or more additional semiconducting elements or semiconducting compounds;
• and
• at least one main layer either substantially surrounded by the at least one monocrystalline diffusion-blocking layer or surrounding the at least one monocrystalline diffusion-blocking layer and comprised substantially of a second compound semiconductor having a second tunable work function.

A method of forming an electronic device comprising:

• providing a substrate;
• forming a gate dielectric layer over at least a portion of the substrate;
• forming at least one diffusion-blocking layer disposed over at least a portion of the gate dielectric layer, comprised substantially of a first compound semiconductor having:
• an alterable diffusion limiting property which is alterable by doping the first compound semiconductor with one or more diffusion-limiting impurities;
• and
• a first tunable work function which is tunable by doping the first compound semiconductor with one or more additional semiconducting elements or semiconducting compounds;
• and
• forming at least one main layer between the gate dielectric layer and the at least one diffusion-blocking layer, the at least one main layer comprised substantially of a second compound semiconductor having a second tunable work function, wherein the at least one diffusion-blocking layer surrounds the at least one main layer.