Restoration of Postbreakdown Gate Oxide by White-Light Illumination

Author

Kawashima, T. ; Yew, K.S. ; Zhou, Y. ; Ang, D.S. ; Bera, M.K. ; Zhang, H.Z.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Nanyang Technol. Univ., Singapore, Singapore

Volume

36

Issue

8

fYear

2015

fDate

Aug. 2015

Firstpage

748

Lastpage

750

Abstract

From conductive-atomic-force-microscope probe measurement, we show that electrical conduction through a nanoscale percolation path in the MOSFET gate oxide can be disrupted, either completely or partially, by white-light illumination. This phenomenon is consistently observed in the SiO₂ and HfO₂ gate-oxide materials, and thus is believed to have originated from a common mechanism-light-stimulated oxygen migration and recombination with vacancy sites that constitute the percolation path. The finding points to the prospect of reliability rejuvenation by the light-assisted restoration of postelectrical-breakdown gate oxides, as well as light-enabled memory operation based on logic MOSFET devices.

Keywords

MOSFET; atomic force microscopy; hafnium compounds; ion recombination; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor device reliability; silicon compounds; HfO₂; MOSFET gate oxide; SiO₂; conductive-atomic-force-microscope probe measurement; electrical conduction; light-assisted restoration; light-enabled memory operation; light-stimulated oxygen migration; logic MOSFET devices; nanoscale percolation path; postbreakdown gate oxide restoration; reliability rejuvenation; white-light illumination; Electric breakdown; Hafnium compounds; Lighting; Logic gates; Probes; Reliability; Stress; CMOS memory; gate oxide breakdown; high-kappa gate oxide; time dependent dielectric breakdown;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2015.2445788

Filename

7124434