MOSFET output characteristics after oxide breakdown

The performance of nMOSFETs after the gate oxide (SiO₂) dielectric breakdown (BD) has been studied. Different BD hardness, BD path locations along the channel and device aspect ratios have been considered. The results show that the BD of the gate oxide affects the overall I_D-V_DS characteristics and that the BD impact depends on BD hardness and location and device geometry. To describe the post-BD data, a simple BD MOSFET model has been used, which accounts for the after BD additional gate current and drain current effects. The model is able to fit all the observed post-BD behaviours and can be easily included in a circuit simulator, to evaluate the impact of device BD on the post-BD performance of circuits.