The physical mechanisms of IG Random Telegraph Noise in deeply scaled pMOSFETs

The physical mechanism of I_G Random Telegraph Noise (I_G-RTN) has been studied in deeply scaled pMOSFETs subject to Negative Bias Temperature Stress (NBTS). Using carrier separation technique, we identify the majority carriers in I_G-RTN are channel holes. By investigating the electric field and temperature dependence of the capture time τ_c and emission time τ_e in I_G-RTN, it is found that the physical origin of I_G-RTN are NBTS-induced switching traps; Further quantitative analysis of I_G-V_G reveal that I_G-RTN is related to a tunneling process. Based on these results, we propose a tunneling model through NBTS-induced switching traps to explain the discrete gate leakage. The model provides a good agreement between the predicted and experimental data.