Observations of NBTI-induced atomic-scale defects

A combination of MOSFET gate-controlled diode measurements and a very sensitive electron spin resonance technique called spin-dependent recombination was utilized to observe and identify defect centers generated by a negative bias temperature stress in fully processed SiO ₂-based pMOSFETs. In SiO₂ devices, the defects include two Si/SiO₂ interface silicon dangling bond centers (P_b0 and P_b1) and may also include an oxide silicon dangling bond center (E´). The observations indicate that both P _b0 and P_b1 defects play major roles in these SiO ₂-based devices and suggest that E´ centers could play an important role