An accurate discrimination method of gate oxide breakdown positions by a new test structure of MOS capacitors

Author

Uchida, Hidetsugu ; Ikeda, Satoshi ; Hirashita, Norio

Author_Institution

Oki Electr. Ind. Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

229

Lastpage

232

Abstract

A new structure of MOS capacitors for discrimination of gate oxide breakdown positions is proposed. The characteristic of this test structure is that Al marks to discriminate the positions are lined up diagonally. Oxide breakdown spots determined by using the test structure are investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) for a 5 nm-thick gate oxide. From these observations, this test structure is found to be useful for XTEM specimen preparation to analyze degradation phenomena of thin gate oxides

Keywords

MOS capacitors; dielectric thin films; integrated circuit reliability; integrated circuit testing; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor device metallisation; specimen preparation; transmission electron microscopy; 5 nm; Al marks; Al-SiO₂-Si; MOS capacitors; XTEM; XTEM specimen preparation; cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy; degradation phenomena; discrimination method; gate oxide; gate oxide breakdown positions; oxide breakdown spots; position discrimination; test structure; thin gate oxides; Breakdown voltage; Circuit testing; Dielectric breakdown; Dielectric films; Electric breakdown; Electrodes; MOS capacitors; Optical microscopy; Performance analysis; Transmission electron microscopy;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microelectronic Test Structures, 2001. ICMTS 2001. Proceedings of the 2001 International Conference on

Conference_Location

Kobe

Print_ISBN

0-7803-6511-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICMTS.2001.928667

Filename

928667