An Effective Correction Methodology for Interference of Stress-Induced Leakage Current in TDDB Evaluation of High- $k$ Dielectrics

A simple and effective correction methodology for interference of stress-induced leakage current (SILC) in time-dependent-dielectric-breakdown (TDDB) evaluation of high-k dielectrics is reported. Unlike the violation of weakest link failure property found in conventional TDDB evaluation with SILC interference, we have demonstrated that time-to-failure distributions obtained with this new methodology restores this universal property. Excellent results in terms of improved time to failure and Weibull slope were obtained, thus providing a realistic TDDB projection. The algorithm of this methodology is easy to implement and can be used in daily TDDB evaluation.