Temperature effect on ultra thin SiO2 time-dependent-dielectric-breakdown

The unusually high temperature-acceleration factor and the non-Arrhenius behavior of ultra thin oxide can be explained by kinetic analysis using the physics-based kinetic model of oxide defect generation during electrical stress. The semi-quantitative treatment using known experimental value range is in good agreement with the reported data in the literature, lending strong support for the kinetic model. The estimated activation energy difference between thick and thin oxide relies on the fact that for thick oxide the hole current to electron current ratio is approximately constant. The resulting agreement with reported data lend support to the anode-hole-injection model (under high-field stress) unless the hydrogen release per injected electron happens to be of a similar order of magnitude.