While the debate about the exact cause of Fermi level pinning in metal-high-k dielectric gate stacks is ongoing, several solutions for engineering the threshold voltage V-t of the gate stacks have been proposed. Engineering the flat-band. voltage V-fb, translates into an effective control of the threshold voltage. This study uses ion implantation as a tool to adjust V-fb by doping the gate stack. It is shown that lanthanide implantation can modulate the effective work function for n-type gate electrodes. Ion implantation of dysprosium (Dy) and lanthanum (La) into the gate stack achieves significant flat-band voltage. shifts of about -1 and -3 V, respectively, for a dose of 1 X 10(14) cm(-1). By increasing the implantation dose and energy, larger shifts in the flat-band voltage are obtainable. (C) 2009 American Vacuum Society. [DOI: 10.1116/1.3021043]