Characteristics and physical mechanisms of positive bias and temperature stress-induced drain current degradation in HfSiON nMOSFETs

Author

Chan, Chien-Tai ; Chun-Jung Tang ; Tahui Wang ; Wang, Howard C H ; Tang, Denny D.

Author_Institution

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

Volume

53

Issue

6

fYear

2006

fDate

6/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1340

Lastpage

1346

Abstract

Drain current degradation in HfSiON gate dielectric nMOSFETs by positive gate bias and temperature stress is investigated by using a fast transient measurement technique. The degradation exhibits two stages, featuring a different degradation rate and stress temperature dependence. The first-stage degradation is attributed to the charging of preexisting high-k dielectric traps and has a log(t) dependence on stress time, whereas the second-stage degradation is mainly caused by new high-k trap creation. The high-k trap growth rate is characterized by two techniques, namely 1) a recovery transient technique and 2) a charge-pumping technique. Finally, the effect of processing on high-k trap growth is evaluated.

Keywords

MOSFET; dielectric materials; hafnium compounds; permittivity; semiconductor growth; silicon compounds; thermal stability; HfSiON; HfSiON nMOSFET; charge-pumping technique; degradation rate; drain current degradation; gate dielectric nMOSFET; high-k dielectric traps; high-k trap growth rate; physical mechanisms; positive bias temperature instability; positive gate bias; recovery transient technique; stress temperature dependence; temperature stress; transient measurement technique; Degradation; Electron traps; High K dielectric materials; High-K gate dielectrics; Leakage current; Low voltage; MOSFETs; Semiconductor device modeling; Stress; Temperature; HfSiON; positive bias temperature instability (PBTI); transient measurement; trap generation; two-stage degradation;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2006.874160

Filename

1637629