Influence of gate oxide breakdown on MOSFET device operation

The degradation of MOS transistor operation due to soft breakdown and thermal breakdown of the gate oxide was studied. Important transistor parameters were monitored during homogeneous stress at elevated temperature until a breakdown event occurred. In case of NMOSFETs the only noticeable signature of soft breakdown is an increase in off current due to enhanced gate induced drain leakage current (GIDL). A model is proposed and it is concluded that this effect only arises if the soft breakdown is located within the gate-to-drain overlap region. The influence of soft breakdown on PMOSFETs is discussed based on the model of enhanced GIDL for NMOSFETs. The degradation due to thermal breakdown of the gate oxide was investigated in detail. As a conclusion, a careful selection of device parameters is necessary in order to detect a device breakdown caused by thermal gate oxide breakdown.     

A STUDY ON HOT-CARRIER-INDUCED GATE OXIDE BREAKDOWN IN PARTIALLY DEPLETED SIMOX MOSFET''''S

The hot-carrier-induced oxide regions in the front and back interfaces are systemati-cally studied for partially depleted SOI MOSFET's. The gate oxide properties are investigated forchannel hot-carrier effects. The hot-carrier-induced device degradations are analyzed using stressexperiments with three typical hot-carrier injection, i.e., the maximum gate current, maximumsubstrate current and parasitic bipolar transistor action. Experiments show that PMOSFET's     

A STUDY ON HOT-CARRIER-INDUCED GATE OXIDE BREAKDOWN IN PARTIALLY DEPLETED SIMOX MOSFET’S

The hot-carrier-induced oxide regions in the front and back interfaces are systematic-cally studied for partially depleted SOI MOSFET‘s .The gate oxide properties are investigated for channel hot-carrier effects.The hot-carrier-induced device degradations are analyzed using stress experiments with three typical hot-carrier injection,i.e.the maximum gate current, maximum substrate current and parasitic bipolaf transistor action.Experiments show that PMOSFET‘s degradation is caused by hot carriers injected into the drain side of the gate oxide and the types of trapped hot carrier depend on the bias conditions, and NMOSFET‘s degradation is caused by hot holes.This paper reports for the first time that the electric characteristics of NMOSFET‘s and PMOSFET‘s are significantly different after the gate oxide breakdown, and an extensive discussion of the experimental findings is provided.     

New hot-carrier degradation mode and lifetime prediction method inquarter-micrometer PMOSFET

Hot-carrier-induced device degradation has been studied for quarter-micrometer level buried-channel PMOSFETs. It was found that the major hot-carrier degradation mode for these small devices is quite different from that previously reported, which was caused by trapped electrons injected into the gate oxide. The new degradation mode is caused by the effect of interface traps generated by hot hole injection into the oxide near the drain in the saturation region. DC device lifetime for the new mode can be evaluated using substrate current rather than gate current as a predictor. Interface-trap generation due to hot-hole injection will become the dominant degradation mode in future PMOSFETs     

Experimental evidence for nonlucky electron model effect in 0.15-/spl mu/m NMOSFETs

It is shown that in 0.15-/spl mu/m NMOSFETs the device lifetime under channel hot-carrier (CHC) stress is lower than that under drain avalanche hot-carrier (DAHC) stress and therefore the hot-carrier stress-induced device degradation in 0.15-/spl mu/m NMOSFETs cannot be explained in the framework of the lucky electron model (LEM). Our investigation suggests that such a "non-LEM effect" may be due to increased interface state generation by the movement of the maximum impact ionization site from the lightly doped drain (LDD) diffusion region to the boundary of the bulk and LDD region beneath the gate oxide. This paper provides experimental evidence for the non-LEM effect by comparing the degradation characteristics and the maximum impact ionization sites as a function of gate oxide thickness and gate length.     

沟道热载流子导致的 PDSOI NMOSFET's击穿特性

对热载流子导致的 SIMOX衬底上的部分耗尽 SOI NMOSFET's的栅氧化层击穿进行了系统研究 .对三种典型的热载流子应力条件造成的器件退化进行实验 .根据实验结果 ,研究了沟道热载流子对于 SOI NMOSFET's前沟特性的影响 .提出了预见器件寿命的幂函数关系 ,该关系式可以进行外推 .实验结果表明 ,NMOSFET's的退化是由热空穴从漏端注入氧化层 ,且在靠近漏端被俘获造成的 ,尽管电子的俘获可以加速 NMOSFET's的击穿 .一个 Si原子附近的两个 Si— O键同时断裂 ,导致栅氧化层的破坏性击穿 .提出了沟道热载流子导致氧化层击穿的新物理机制     

A model for n-well junction effect on gate-charging damage inPMOSFETs

A quantitative model explaining N-well junction effect on gate charging damage in PMOSFETs is presented. This model takes into account the reverse-biased N-well junction leakage, generated both thermally and by photons and its behavior on limiting charging current passing through gate oxide during plasma processing. The modeling results suggest that plasma illumination plays a key role in enabling gate charging damage in PMOSFETs. The model can also apply to reverse-biased source and drain junctions in both P and NMOSFETs during plasma events     

深亚微米NMOSFETs总剂量辐射与热载流子效应研究

本文对深亚微米器件的总剂量辐射与热载流子效应进行了对比试验研究。结果表明虽然总剂量与热载流子效应在损伤原理上存在相似的地方,但两种损伤的表现形式存在明显差异。总剂量辐射损伤主要增加了器件的关态泄漏电流,而热载流子损伤最显著的特点是跨导与输出特性曲线降低。分析认为,STI隔离区辐射感生氧化物正电荷形成的电流泄漏通道是造成总剂量辐射后电流增长的根源,而栅氧化层的氧化物负电荷与栅界面态的形成是造成热载流子退化的原因。因此,对二者进行加固时应侧重于不同的方面。     

Features and mechanisms of the saturating hot-carrier degradationin LDD NMOSFETs

Propagation of defects from the sub-spacer region to the gate-overlapped LDD region in NMOSFETs is modeled using measurements and 2-D device simulation. It is argued that the saturation of degradation is caused by the saturating nature of this degradation length, as opposed to decreasing lateral electric field maxima (E_m) or increasing barrier height (φ_it) to defect creation. Two stage hot-carrier degradation was observed in our LDD NMOSFETs. The early mode (1000-3000 s) of the degradation is characterized by a sharp rate of degradation of the linear transconductance (g_m), and a reduction in the substrate current (I_B). In order to locate and quantify defects produced in this early mode degradation phase, we use the results of a combination of the floating gate technique and simultaneous measurements of the reverse (source and drain interchanged) saturation g_m's. These results help us build a 2-D simulation framework involving trapped negative charges in the oxide in the drain-side gate-edge region, partly under the gate and partly in the spacer region. We then use 2-D simulation and other measurements such as linear and saturation current degradation, I_B degradation, and charge pumping to confirm the location of the defects and help estimate their quantity. Simulation results also help us build an analytical model for defect propagation from the early mode to the late mode. The analytical model is seen to explain many features of the saturating nature of hot-carrier degradation     

An anomalous device degradation of SOI narrow width devices causedby STI edge influence

The effects of shallow trench isolation (STI) on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices are investigated for various device sizes with three different gate shapes. Both NMOSFETs and PMOSFETs with the channel region butted to the STI show a reduction in mobility (NMOSFETs and PMOSFETs) and an increase of low-frequency noise as the channel width is reduced. In comparison, the devices without the STI-butted channel region show much less variation in mobility for various channel widths. The degradation of MOSFET yield in SOI MOSFETs with the STI is found to be dependent on the device width since the contribution of the interface roughness (or damage) between the STI and the channel formed during the dry etch process becomes significant with the decrease of channel width and the increase of channel length. From the charge-pumping results, the interface state (N_it) generated by the STI process was identified as the cause of the anomalous degradation     

New hot-carrier degradation mode in PMOSFETs with W gate electrodes

Hot-carrier degradation of W gate PMOSFETs, which are surface-channel devices because of the work function of W, has been investigated in comparison with polycide (WSi_x/n⁺ poly-Si) ones. In W gate PMOSFETs, transconductance g_m and threshold voltage V_th decrease on the drain avalanche hot-carrier (DAHC) stress, and Δg_m /g_m0 and ΔV_th become minimum at V_G≅V_D/2. By using the charge-pumping technique, it is found that, after stressing at the same stress condition, the interface state density of W gate devices is about 10 times larger than that of polycide ones but the densities of trapped electrons are almost equal. These results indicate that the difference of hot-carrier degradation between W and polycide gate devices is mainly caused by the difference of the interface state density     

The degradation mechanisms in high voltage pLEDMOS transistor with thick gate oxide

The hot-carrier degradation behavior in a high voltage p-type lateral extended drain MOS (pLEDMOS) with thick gate oxide is studied in detail for different stress voltages. The different degradation mechanisms are demonstrated: the interface trap formation in the channel region and injection and trapping of hot electrons in the accumulation and field oxide overlapped drift regions of the pLEDMOS, depending strongly on the applied gate and drain voltage. It will be shown that the injection mechanism gives rise to rather moderate changes of the specific on-resistance (Ron) but tiny changes of the saturation drain current (Idsat) and the threshold voltage (Vth). CP experiments and detailed TCAD simulations are used to support the experimental findings. In this way, the abnormal degradation of the electrical parameters of the pLEDMOS is explained. A novel structure is proposed that the field oxide of the pLEDMOS transistor is used as its gate oxide in order to minish the hot-carrier degradation.     

The relationship between gate bias and hot-carrier-inducedinstabilities in buried- and surface-channel PMOSFETs

For accurate predictions of device reliability with respect to hot-carrier effects, it is necessary to establish worst-case stress bias conditions. Detailed measurements of hot-carrier-induced instabilities in short-channel PMOSFETs have revealed that stress gate bias conditions corresponding to peak gate currents result in maximum shifts in device parameters. However, for some parameters, notably those measured at low drain bias, comparable shifts are observed for stress gate bias conditions that correspond to peak substrate currents. These observations are valid for both buried-channel (n-type polysilicon gate) and surface-channel (p-type polysilicon gate) PMOSFETs. An interpretation of these results based on the generation of tapped oxide charge and interface traps is proposed     

Utilization of plasma hydrogenation in stacked SRAM's with poly-SiPMOSFET's and bulk-Si NMOSFET's

Poly-si PMOSFETs were utilized with bulk-Si NMOSFETs in stacked SRAM cells. Results regarding utilization of a plasma hydrogenation step in a stacked SRAM process sequence are reported. It is found that poly-Si PMOSFETs exhibit an increase in ON/OFF current ratio of four orders of magnitude. Bulk-Si NMOSFETs subjected to the same hydrogenation process exhibit no significant decrease in device lifetime or significant degradation in I-V characteristics compared to NMOSFETs which were not subjected to the plasma hydrogenation process. These results indicate that plasma hydrogenation can successfully be utilized to obtain improved performance stacked SRAMs     

Plasma process-induced damage on thick (6.8 nm) and thin (3.5 nm) gate oxide: parametric shifts, hot-carrier response, and dielectric integrity degradation

It is shown that the primary manifestation of charging damage in thin (<4 nm) oxides is a degradation of dielectric integrity, while the primary manifestation of damage in thick (>6 nm) oxides is a shift in threshold voltage and/or the degradation of hot-carrier immunity. It is therefore necessary to monitor both dielectric integrity and parametric shifts to determine the consequences of charging damage on a technology with multiple gate oxide thicknesses. We demonstrate the efficacy of a ramp breakdown methodology for measuring dielectric integrity, showing that a simple measurement of current is not sufficiently sensitive, and that results equivalent to a lengthy time-to-breakdown test may be achieved. We describe a highly accelerated hot-carrier stress for monitoring damage on thicker oxide and show how it illuminates latent damage and is superior to Fowler–Nordheim stressing for this purpose. Furthermore, we show data on some thousands of chips from a manufacturing line, which demonstrates robust charging behavior for realistic gate and wiring antennas.     

The study of hot-carrier stress on poly-Si TFT employing C-V measurement

The degradation of n-type and p-type low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin-film transistors (TFTs) due to hot-carrier stress was investigated by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement. In C-V measurements, the fixed charges in the gate oxide of TFTs are not affected by a small-applied signal, whereas the trap states in the bandgap respond to the applied frequency, so that the dominant degradation mechanism of poly-Si TFTs can be evaluated. The capacitance (C/sub GS/) between the source and the gate, as well as the capacitance (C/sub GD/) between the drain and the gate, were measured. The difference between the C/sub GD/ and the C/sub GS/ indicates the location of degradation in the TFT. Our experimental results showed that the degradation of n-type TFTs was caused by additional trap states in the grain boundary, whereas the degradation of p-type TFTs was caused by electron trapping into the gate oxide.     

Hot-carrier-induced on-resistance degradation of step gate oxide NLDMOS

The hot-carrier-induced on-resistance degradations of step gate oxide NLDMOS(SG-NLDMOS) transistors are investigated in detail by a DC voltage stress experiment,a TCAD simulation and a charge pumping test.For different stress conditions,degradation behaviors of SG-NLDMOS transistors are analyzed and degradation mechanisms are presented.Then the effect of various doses of n-type drain drift(NDD) region implant on R_(on) degradation is investigated.Experimental results show that a lower NDD dosage can redu...     

Application of direct-tunneling gate oxides to high-performance CMOS

The characteristics of direct-tunneling gate oxide metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET)s are described. The effect of gate leakage current on MOSFET characteristics drops off as the gate length is reduced. Extremely good DC and AC performance has been realized using ultra-thin oxides down to 1.5 nm. Improved hot-carrier reliability and high oxide breakdown voltage have also been observed.     

Degradation of ultra-thin gate oxide LDD NMOSFET under GIDL stress

The degradation of device under GIDL(gate-induced drain leakage current)stress has been studied using LDD NMOSFETs with 1.4 nm gate oxides.Experimental result shows that the degradation of device parameters depends more strongly on Vd than on Vg.The characteristics of the GIDL current are used to analyze the damage generated during the stress.It is clearly found that the change of GIDL current before and after stress can be divided into two stages.The trapping of holes in the oxide is dominant in the first stage,but that of electrons in the oxide is dominant in the second stage.It is due to the common effects of edge direct tunneling and band-to-band tunneling.SILC(stress induced leakage current)in the NMOSFET decreases with increasing stress time under GIDL stress.The degradation characteristic of SILC also shows saturating time dependence.SILC is strongly dependent on the measured gate voltage.The higher the measured gate voltage,the less serious the degradation of the gate current.A likely mechanism is presented to explain the origin of SILC during GIDL stress.     

PMOSFET Reliability Study for Direct Silicon Bond (DSB) Hybrid Orientation Technology (HOT)

The use of hybrid orientation technology with direct silicon bond wafers consisting of a (110) crystal orientation layer bonded to a bulk (100) handle wafer provides exciting opportunities for easier migration of bulk CMOS designs to higher performance materials, particularly (110) Si for PMOSFETs for higher hole mobility. In this letter, a 3times mobility improvement and 36% drive current gain were achieved for PMOSFETs on (110) substrates. A systematic investigation of PMOSFET reliability was conducted, and significant degradation of negative bias temperature instability lifetime on (110) orientation was observed due to higher density of dangling bonds. We also report the crystal orientation dependence on ultrathin nitrided gate oxide time-dependent dielectric breakdown.