Substrate Current Independent Hot Carrier Degradation in NLDMOS Devices

Automotive and telecom applications often require voltages in the 20-30V range. These circuits combine high performance CMOS with a high voltage MOS transistor. A possible choice for the high voltage device is an n-channel lateral DMOS transistor (NLDMOS). An advantage of an NLDMOS transistor is that it can be easily integrated within existing technologies without significant process changes. In most cases, though, the drain drift implant must be optimized to meet breakdown voltage and hot carrier reliability requirements. This paper focuses on understanding anomalous hot carrier results obtained from an NLDMOS transistor whose drain drift implant dose was varied