Electrical signature of the defect associated with gate oxide breakdown

Oxide breakdown is an important issue for MOS devices. It is widely believed that defects generated within the oxides are responsible for the breakdown. However, it is still not clear which type of the various generated defects is the main cause for the failure. This paper unambiguously shows that generated hole traps, low-field electron traps, and high-field electron traps with a capture cross section of 10^-15-10^-16 cm² are not the main source of the breakdown. The generated high-field electron trap with a capture cross section in the order of 10^-14 cm² is the only defect having all the characteristics required for breaking down the oxide. This paper should provide useful information for modeling oxide breakdown.