Improved hot-electron degradation in nMOSFETs with elevated source and drain structures realised by selective epitaxial growth of silicon using silane only

For the first time, n-channel MOSFETs with elevated source and drain structures, realised by selective epitaxial growth (SEG) of silicon using silane only, have been stressed under various conditions. Depending on the gate voltage, up to ten times improvement in hot-electron related degradation has been observed compared with the standard MOSFET structure. This has been attributed to the alleviation and spreading of the lateral electric field near the drain end of the transistor because of the very shallow and graded junctions obtained in elevated S/D structures.<>