  The replacement of SiO2 by so-called high-k oxides is one of the major
challenges for the semiconductor industry to date. Based on electronic
structure calculations and ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations, we are
able to provide a consistent picture of the growth process of a class of
epitaxial oxides around SrO and SrTiO3. The detailed understanding of the
interfacial binding principles has also allowed us to propose a way to engineer
the band-offsets between the oxide and the silicon substrate.
