- Praseodymium oxide (PrxOy) is one of the candidate as high-k transistor gate dielectrics, but aluminium oxynitride (AlxONy) as buffer layer is needed to prevent diffusions from the silicon into PrxOy and to hinder charge injection from the semiconductor into the insulator. The thermal stability and thickness dependence of aluminum oxynitride (AlxONy) has been investigated by synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy (SR-PES). AlxONy layers were prepared by low energy ion-beam assisted deposition (LE-IBAD) at room temperature on a silicon substrate cleaned with HF-acid. Aluminium oxynitride is stable till 800∘C. From photoemission spectra we can assess that silicon oxynitride is built as first and then the growth of AlxONy follows. Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering measurements with synchrotron radiation have been performed. The combination of X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and RIXS make possible to determinate the band gap of AlxONy.