Effects of statistical thin-oxide thickness variations on the time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) parameters for wafer level reliability

This paper presents a computational approach to accurately calculate the effects of the wafer-to-wafer oxide thickness (Tox) variations on the extracted TDDB parameters. Methodology relies on the available experimental data from the TDDB tests performed on wafers from the 0.35 ¿ technology on the line of production. Wafer-level Tox variations are included too. Results show that the effects on gate-oxide lifetime are significant, ¿-parameter variations are considerable, and ß-parameter variations are negligible.