The energy distribution of NBTI-induced hole traps in the Si band gap in PNO pMOSFETs

By applying a low temperature sweeping technique, we indentify the energy profile of recoverable hole traps for nitrided oxide and SiO₂ pMOSFETs subject to Negative Bias Temperature Stress (NBTS). It is found that the energy distribution of hole traps for nitrided oxide devices has two obvious peaks, one in the lower and one in the upper half of the silicon band gap. Both peaks gradually develop with increasing the stress time and temperature. We attempt to compare the energy profile for nitrided oxide and SiO₂ devices to identify the nitrogen effect on the hole traps generated under NBTS.