Title :
Hot-carrier reliability in high-voltage lateral double-diffused MOS transistors
Author :
Vescoli, V. ; Park, J.M. ; Enichlmair, H. ; Knaipp, M. ; Rohrer, G. ; Minixhofer, R. ; Schrems, M.
Author_Institution :
Process Dev. & Implementation, Austriamicrosystems AG, Unterpremstatten
fDate :
6/1/2008 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
With the continuing scaling of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices, the hot-carrier (HC)-induced device degradation has become a major reliabiliy concern in sub- and deep-submicrometre MOS field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and lateral double-diffused MOSFETs (LDMOSFETs). It is believed that the degradation is mainly due to the effects of the generated oxide-trapped charges and interface traps at the Si/SiO2 interface. In general, the large electric field is strongly localised in a well-defined region; therefore carrier injection and interface-trap creation are similarly concentrated. The strongly inharmonious characters of HC injection and resulting damage present a considerable challenge to both experimental and modelling efforts.The HC degradation behaviour of an n-channel LDMOS transistor is investigated under various stress conditions. By applying variable base charge pumping experiments, a consistent picture of the degradation mechanism can be depicted. HC-induced interface traps are generated in the channel region of the device, in the drift region below the thick field oxide and at the bird´s beak edge. The latter is shown to dominate the degradation of I dlin, which is the most critical parameter concerning HC lifetime in this specific device.
Keywords :
MOSFET; hot carriers; semiconductor device reliability; silicon; silicon compounds; HC injection inharmonious character; Si-SiO2; generated oxide-trapped charge effect; high-voltage lateral double-diffused MOS transistor; hot-carrier reliability; metal-oxide-semiconductor device; n-channel LDMOS transistor;
Journal_Title :
Circuits, Devices & Systems, IET
DOI :
10.1049/iet-cds:20060374