The observation of trapping and detrapping effects in high-k gate dielectric MOSFETs by a new gate current Random Telegraph Noise (IG-RTN) approach

Author

Chang, C.M. ; Chung, Steve S. ; Hsieh, Y.S. ; Cheng, L.W. ; Tsai, C.T. ; Ma, G.H. ; Chien, S.C. ; Sun, S.W.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Nat. Chiao Tung Univ., Hsinchu

fYear

2008

fDate

15-17 Dec. 2008

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

A new method, called gate current random telegraph noise (I_G RTN), was developed to analyze the oxide quality and reliability of high-k gate dielectric MOSFETs. First, a single electron trapping/detrapping from process induced trap in nMOSFET was observed and the associated physical mechanism was proposed. Secondly, I_G RTN has also been successfully applied to differentiate the difference in electron tunneling mechanism for a device under high-field or low-field stress. Finally, the soft-breakdown (SBD) behavior of a device can be clearly identified. Its I_G RTN characteristic is different from that before soft-breakdown. It was found that SBD will indeed induce extra leakage current as a result of an additional breakdown path.

Keywords

MOSFET; electron traps; high-k dielectric thin films; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor device noise; semiconductor device reliability; tunnelling; IG-RTN approach; detrapping effect; electron trapping effect; electron tunneling mechanism; gate current random telegraph noise; high-k gate dielectric MOSFET reliability; oxide quality analysis; soft-breakdown behavior; CMOS technology; Current measurement; Dielectric measurements; Electron traps; High K dielectric materials; High-K gate dielectrics; MOSFET circuits; Stress; Telegraphy; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electron Devices Meeting, 2008. IEDM 2008. IEEE International

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA

ISSN

8164-2284

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2377-4

Electronic_ISBN

8164-2284

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEDM.2008.4796815

Filename

4796815