Abstract
This work quantitatively compares soft breakdown identification methods for constant: voltage stress of large-area nMOS capacitors (up to 10 mm2) with 1.8- to 12-nm gate-oxide thickness with negative gate voltage. We conclude that in the studied range, breakdown is identified more reliably with a current step trigger than through increased current fluctuation. We present a method to quantify the system background noise, and show results of data filtering algorithms that significantly enhance the ratio between the breakdown signal and background noise level. Index Terms-CMOS, reliability, soft breakdown, TDDB.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 150-157 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2001 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
Manuscript received July 13, 2001. This work was supported by the EC project HUNT. J. Schmitz is with Philips Research Leuven, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium (e-mail: [email protected]). H. P. Tuinhout, H. J. Kretschmann, and P. H. Woerlee are with the Philips Research Laboratories, 5656 AA Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Publisher Item Identifier S 1530-4388(01)10628-1.