Progressive Breakdown Characteristics of High-K/Metal Gate Stacks

Author

Bersuker, G. ; Chowdhury, N. ; Young, C. ; Heh, D. ; Misra, D. ; Choi, R.

Author_Institution

SEMATECH, Austin, TX

fYear

2007

fDate

15-19 April 2007

Firstpage

49

Lastpage

54

Abstract

Breakdown characteristics of Hf-based high-k dielectrics in a wide thickness range were investigated to identify the "weak link" in the gate stack and its leading breakdown mechanisms under inversion stress. A strong correlation among the growth rates of the stress leakage current, SILC, and interface trap density suggests that breakdown is triggered by trap generation in the interfacial SiO₂ layer. Stress-time evolution of the differential resistance and its slope obtained from SILC data allows progressive breakdown in high-k/metal gate stacks to be identified

Keywords

dielectric materials; electric breakdown; hafnium; interface states; leakage currents; silicon compounds; Hf; SILC; differential resistance; high-k dielectrics; interface trap density; interfacial layer; inversion stress; metal gate stacks; progressive breakdown; stress leakage current; stress-time evolution; trap generation; Breakdown voltage; Dielectric breakdown; Electric breakdown; Electrodes; Hafnium oxide; High K dielectric materials; High-K gate dielectrics; Leakage current; Stress; Tin; breakdown; high-k; trap generation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability physics symposium, 2007. proceedings. 45th annual. ieee international

Conference_Location

Phoenix, AZ

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0919-5

Electronic_ISBN

1-4244-0919-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RELPHY.2007.369867

Filename

4227608