The Dependence of Channel Hot-carrier Degradation on Temperature in the Range 77K to 300K

The temperature dependence of the hot-carrier degradation behavior of n-and p-channel transistors is investigated. It is found that the efficiency of hot-electrons and hot-holes to generate interface traps is reduced at low temperatures, and that this generation can therefore be characterized by a positive activation energy. The much larger degradation of current characteristics commonly observed for n-channel MOSFETs at 77 K is shown to originate from the larger influence of any local damage in the transistor channel at low temperatures. For p-channel transistors, however, the influence of trapped electrons near the drain on Id-Vg curves is not significantly dependent on temperature.