Thickness dependence of stress-induced leakage currents in silicon oxide

Author

Runnion, E.F. ; Gladstone, S.M. ; Scott, R.S., Jr. ; Dumin, D.J. ; Lie, L. ; Mitros, J.C.

Author_Institution

Clemson Univ., SC, USA

Volume

44

Issue

6

fYear

1997

fDate

6/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

993

Lastpage

1001

Abstract

The thickness dependence of high-voltage stress-induced leakage currents (SILC´s) has been measured in oxides with thicknesses between 5 and 11 nm. The SILC´s were shown to be composed of two components: a transient component and a DC component. Both components were due to trap-assisted tunneling processes. The transient component was caused by the tunnel charging and discharging of the stress-generated traps near the two interfaces. The DC component was caused by trap-assisted tunneling completely through the oxide. The thickness, voltage, and trap density dependences of both of these components were measured. The SILC´s will affect data retention in electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROM´s) and the DC component was used to estimate to fundamental limitations on oxide thicknesses

Keywords

EPROM; MIS devices; dielectric thin films; electric breakdown; electron traps; leakage currents; semiconductor-insulator boundaries; silicon compounds; tunnelling; 5 to 11 nm; DC component; EEPROM; HV stress-induced leakage currents; SiO₂-Si; data retention; oxide thickness limitations; stress-generated traps; thickness dependence; transient component; trap density dependence; trap-assisted tunneling processes; tunnel charging; tunnel discharging; voltage dependence; Current measurement; Density measurement; EPROM; Leakage current; PROM; Silicon; Stress measurement; Thickness measurement; Tunneling; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.585556

Filename

585556