Hot carrier effects in trench-based integrated power transistors

This paper reports for the first time on anomalous hot carrier effects observed in vertically integrated trench-based (TB-MOS) power transistors. The avalanche current reaches a maximum at intermediate drain voltage, and decreases for increasing drain voltage. The hot carrier lifetime of the transistors yields a minimum at intermediate drain voltage, and not at the maximum drain voltage. Charge pumping experiments enable to locate the degradation in the TB-MOS. A degradation model is proposed.