SiO2 degradation with charge injection polarity |
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Authors: | Apte P.P. Saraswat K.C. |
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Affiliation: | Center for Integrated Syst., Stanford Univ., CA ; |
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Abstract: | We have investigated gate oxide degradation in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices as a function of high-field constant-current stress for charge injection from both gate and substrate. The two polarities are asymmetric: gate injection, where the substrate Si-SiO2 interface is the collecting electrode for the energetic electrons, shows a higher rate of interface-state generation (ΔDit) and lower charge-to-breakdown Qbd. Thus the collecting electrode interface, which suffers primary damage, emerges as a critical degradation site in addition to the injecting electrode interface, which has been the traditional focus. Consistent with a physical-damage model of breakdown, we demonstrate that interfacial degradation is an important precursor of breakdown, and that the nature of breakdown-related damage is physical, such as trap-generation by broken bonds |
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