The relaxation phenomena of positive charges in thin gate oxide during Fowler-Nordheim tunneling stress

Author

Chang, Kow-Ming ; Li, Chii-Horng ; Wang, Shih-Wei ; Yeh, Ta-Hsun ; Yang, Ji-Yi ; Lee, Tzyh-Cheang

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Nat. Chiao Tung Univ., Hsinchu, Taiwan

Volume

45

Issue

8

fYear

1998

fDate

8/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1684

Lastpage

1689

Abstract

In this study, new relaxation phenomena of positive charges in gate oxide with Fowler-Nordheim (FN) constant current injections have been investigated and characterized. It was found that the magnitudes of applied gate voltage shifts (ΔV_FN) during FN injections, after positive charges relaxed or discharged, have a logarithmic dependence with the relaxation time for both injection polarities. The results can derive the relationship of transient discharging currents, that flow through the oxides after removal of the stress voltage, with the relaxation time. We have shown that the current has a 1/f dependence for both injection polarities which can be also derived from the tunneling front model. The effects of oxide fields (lower than the necessary voltage for FN tunneling) and wafer temperatures (373 and 423 K) for the relaxation of positive charges are also studied

Keywords

MOS capacitors; carrier relaxation time; electron traps; insulating thin films; tunnelling; 373 K; 423 K; Fowler-Nordheim tunneling stress; MOS capacitors; applied gate voltage shifts; constant current injections; injection polarities; oxide fields; positive charges; relaxation phenomena; relaxation time; thin gate oxide; transient discharging currents; tunneling front model; wafer temperatures; Degradation; Electron traps; Helium; Interface states; MOS capacitors; Semiconductor device modeling; Stress; Temperature; Tunneling; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.704365

Filename

704365