Impact of gate area on plasma charging damage: the "reverse" antenna effect

We report for the first time, a peak in the failure fraction when plotted as a function of the gate area (for a fixed antenna area). This peak is a consequence of competition between failure probability decrease due to reducing antenna ratio and failure probability increase due to increasing gate area. The position of this peak depends on plasma/oxide parameters, and is likely to be more prevalent in damage arising from high-density plasma processes for ultra-thin dielectrics. The presence of this peak results in a region where the decrease in antenna ratio (by increasing gate area) actually results in higher fail probability ("reverse" antenna effect).