Effect of hot-electron stress on low frequency MOSFET noise

Hot-electron reliability problems are of great importance in small geometry n-channel field-effect transistors. Accumulation of negative charge within the gate insulator and creation of interface states represent the two dominant degradation mechanisms. Since MOSFET noise is ascribed to Si-SiO2interface states, one might reasonably expect this noise to increase after hot-electron stress. We verify this expectation and show how the noise increase depends on gate voltage during stress. MOSFET noise is important for analog circuit performance and, hence, consideration of the long-term stability of noise, as well as threshold voltage and transconductance, should be included in analog circuit/process design.