New rapid method for lifetime determination of gate oxide validated with Bipolar/CMOS/DMOS technology

We have established a new control method in order to decrease drastically the evaluation time of the gate oxide lifetime in bipolar/CMOS/DMOS technology. This technique is based on the measurement of the Fowler Nordheim (FN) current and on the use of a new equation established between the time to breakdown (l/E model) and the FN current. This technique applied to a test cell (THFE), thanks to direct probing on wafers, reduces the experimental capacitance measurement time down to four hours instead of several weeks. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.