Direct observation of channel hot-electron energy in short-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

An experimental method is proposed to extract the channel hot-electron (CHE) energy (φ_e) in the nano-meter-scaled metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). Accelerated by localized electric field in the drain induced channel depletion region, the CHEs obtain larger kinetic energy than the other unaccelerated channel electrons, and they gain greater probability of tunneling through the gate oxide so as to enlarge the gate leakage current. By monitoring the CHE enhanced gate leakage transients and solving the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation, the reduced gate barrier height (φ_B) and the φ_e can be extracted. This method is applicable to the shortchannel MOSFETs with a channel length less than 150nm with promising accuracy, and it is advantageous owing to its simplicity and timely-applicability to the very recent ultra-small-feature-sized MOSFETs.