Thin yttria films were investigated for use as gate dielectrics in carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs) with the gate length scaled down to sub-50 nm size. The yttria film provided an omega-shaped gate dielectric with a low interface trap density, a low average sub-threshold swing of 74 mV per decade for both long and short CNTFETs, and a small drain-induced barrier lowering. It was also shown that the performance of CNTFETs increases with decreasing temperature, with an excellent sub-threshold swing of 22 mV per decade at liquid nitrogen temperatures. A method was developed to retrieve the interface trap density in CNTFETs and a low interface trap density of 5.2 × 10(6) cm(-1) was achieved, indicating the high electric quality of the yttria films.