Microscopic and statistical approach to SILC characteristics-exponential relation between distributed Fowler Nordheim coefficients and its physical interpretation

Microscopic characteristics of stress-induced leakage current (mSILC) are studied by analyzing a large amount of data on the charge retention characteristic of stacked gate arrayed transistors. It is found that the SILC characteristics fluctuate in the microscopic regions, but they all fit the Fowler Nordheim (F-N) formula. Moreover, the coefficients /spl alpha/ and /spl beta/ of the F-N equation, which are conventionally constants, are obtained in this study by statistically analyzing mSILC characteristics, and are therefore distributed, with a strong exponential relation to each other. It is found that this correlation can be qualitatively explained by the analytical trap-trap transition model.