Breakdown voltage characteristics of thin oxides and their correlation to defects in the oxide as observed by the EBIC technique

Thin oxides are widely used as the tunneling dielectric in floating gate EEPROM devices and as gate dielectric in short-channel MOS devices. The oxides are required to have high breakdown voltage and low defect density for reliable operation of the devices. With the Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC) technique, defects in the oxide which lead to lower values of the oxide breakdown voltage have been observed.