ABSTRACTThis paper discusses chemical bonding effects at Si-dielectric interfaces that are important in the implementation of alternative gate dielectrics including: i) the character of interfacial bonds, either isovalent with bond and nuclear charge balanced as in Si-SiO2, or heterovalent, with an inherent mismatch between bond and nuclear charge, ii) mechanical bonding constraints related to the average number of bonds/atom, Nay, and iii) band offset energies that are reduced in transition metal oxides due to the d-state origins of the conduction band states. Applications are made to specific classes of dielectric materials including i) nitrides and oxide/nitride stacks and ii) alternative high-K gate materials.