A simple explanation for the apparent relaxation effect associated with hot-carrier phenomenon in MOSFETs

The shift in the drain current of a nearby unstressed MOSFET device was used to study the apparent relaxation effect on the drain current of a stressed device observed after the hot-carrier stress is stopped. A simple correction scheme is shown to be adequate for removing this effect. It was found that the effect may not be due to any decrease in the actual degradation. Instead, findings strongly support the idea that the major cause is a shift in the temperature due to heat dissipation caused by self-heating during the stress.<>