Analysis of Soft Breakdown of 2.6–4.9-nm-Thick Gate Oxides

概要

論文の詳細を見る
The dielectric degradation of 2.6–4.9-nm-thick SiO2 has been studied by analyzing stress-induced leakage current (SILC) and soft breakdown (SBD) current under gate and substrate injections. We found a critical oxide field for the transition from the SILC mode to the SBD mode, independent of oxide thicknesses and stress polarities. The SILC and the leakage current just after SBD can be simulated well using a dielectric degradation model where the conductive path is locally extended in SiO2 from the SiO2/Si interface and the current is limited by electron tunneling through remaining undegraded SiO2 on the top of the conductive path. From the temperature dependence of the transition from the SILC mode to the SBD mode, we also found that the activation energy of the transition changes at ${\sim}150$°C, which can be associated with the population of characteristic phonons in the Si–O–Si network, regardless of stress polarities.
Published by the Japan Society of Applied Physics through the Institute of Pure and Applied Physicsの論文
2004-10-15