Impact of electrode surface modulation on time-dependent dielectric breakdown

This study demonstrates the impact of electrode surface modulation on conduction mechanism and TDDB behavior. We found that the Schottky barrier height can be decreased by an unexpected change of the electrode surface materials, due to introduction of new barrier/seed materials. As TDDB is an electron-fluence driven mechanism, the changes of barrier height have a potential impact not only on the lifetime, but also on the voltage acceleration. For an accurate evaluation of samples with the same condition, a large sample size was employed in local reticle.