Latent reliability degradation of ultra-thin oxides after heavy ion and γ-ray irradiation

Author

Wang, B. ; Suehle, J.S. ; Vogel, E.M. ; Conley, J.R., Jr. ; Weintraub, C.E. ; Johnston, A.H. ; Bernstein, J.B.

Author_Institution

Center for Reliability Eng., Maryland Univ., College Park, MD, USA

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

16

Lastpage

19

Abstract

We studied the effects of heavy ion and γ-ray irradiation on radiation-induced leakage current (RILC) and time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) life distributions of ultra-thin oxides (<3.5 nm). Thermal annealing experiments were carried out on irradiated devices to study the nature of RILC. TDDB experiments were also performed on irradiated devices with thermal annealing. Our results show that gamma irradiation had a minimal effect on intrinsic TDDB lifetime of ultra-thin oxides. However, heavy ion irradiation induced RILC and substantially reduced the lifetime of ultra-thin oxide films. Thermal annealing experiments suggests that RILC is due to trapped holes. Removal of RILC (and holes) do not improve TDDB lifetime

Keywords

annealing; dielectric thin films; electric breakdown; gamma-ray effects; ion beam effects; leakage currents; reliability; silicon compounds; 3.5 nm; SiO₂; SiO₂ film; gamma-ray irradiation; heavy ion irradiation; latent reliability degradation; life distribution; radiation-induced leakage current; thermal annealing; time-dependent dielectric breakdown; ultra-thin oxide; Annealing; Degradation; Dielectric breakdown; Electric breakdown; Ionizing radiation; Leakage current; MOS capacitors; Microelectronics; NIST; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Integrated Reliability Workshop Final Report, 2001. 2001 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Lake Tahoe, CA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7167-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/.2001.993910

Filename

993910