Material used to form dielectrics in silicon technology are currently changing. For example intermetal dielectrics need to have a low dielectric constant and therefore a move away from conventional materials is occurring. DRAM's have an opposite requirement and for this reason metal oxide dielectrics are being pursued with a longer term view of using ferroelectric materials. The area of gate oxides is also one of review and we show in this paper that dielectrics formed in a nitric oxide ambient may be appropriate at least to the end of this century.