Title :
Nanoscale post-breakdown conduction of HfO2/SiO2 MOS gate stacks studied by enhanced-CAFM
Author :
Blasco, X. ; Nafría, M. ; Aymerich, X. ; Pétry, J. ; Vandervorst, W.
Author_Institution :
Dept. d´´Enginyeria Electron., Univ. Autonoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
Abstract :
An enhanced conductive atomic force microscope has enabled a measurement of the conduction through a HfO2/SiO2 gate stack until breakdown (BD) in a single measurement, with nanometer resolution. Before the stack BD, the current-voltage characteristic shows several conduction modes. After BD, switchings between different conduction states were observed, showing that BD is a reversible phenomenon.
Keywords :
MIS devices; atomic force microscopy; electrical conductivity; hafnium compounds; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor device reliability; silicon compounds; HfO2-SiO2; MOS gate stacks; conduction states; conductive atomic force microscope; current-voltage characteristics; dielectric breakdown; enhanced-CAFM; gate dielectric; nanoscale post-breakdown conduction; Atomic force microscopy; Atomic measurements; Conductivity measurement; Current measurement; Degradation; Electric breakdown; Force measurement; Hafnium oxide; Testing; Voltage; Conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM); dielectric breakdown; gate dielectric; high-; reliability;
Journal_Title :
Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TED.2005.859705
