Identification of stress-induced leakage current components and the corresponding trap models in SiO/sub 2/ films

Sakakibara, K.; Ajika, N.; Hatanaka, M.; Miyoshi, Hirokazu; Yasuoka, Akihiko

doi:10.1109/16.585555

Cited by 35 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Based on previous reports, we should consider several possible mechanisms to explain this NDR observed around the quasibreakdown spots. As reported by Sakakibara et al, 22 one possible explanation is energy level matching between the Fermi level of the gate material in MOS devices and the defect level in the oxide layer, such as dangling bond states positioned at the midgap of the oxide. 23 However, in our STM experiments, the electrons were not emitted from a semiconductor gate having a band gap, but from the metal STM tip ͓Fig.…”

Section: Characterization Of Individual Current Leakage Sites By Umentioning

confidence: 76%

Characterization of local dielectric breakdown in ultrathin SiO2 films using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy

Watanabe

Baba

Ichikawa³

1999

Journal of Applied Physics

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Local dielectric breakdown of ultrathin SiO 2 films grown on silicon substrates has been investigated by using scanning tunneling microscopy ͑STM͒ and scanning tunneling spectroscopy ͑STS͒. We found that STM observation can reveal individual quasibreakdown spots created by hot-electron injection into the oxide, as well as features of the topography such as atomic steps on the oxide surface. STS was used to study the local electrical properties of the oxide films before and after electrical stressing. We observed a leakage current at the quasibreakdown spots that passed through defect levels in the ultrathin oxide films. We also found that several tunneling spectra obtained from near leakage sites showed clear negative differential resistance. This phenomenon was attributed to the conductance change in the leakage path due to electron charging effects. Moreover, we confirmed the stressing polarity dependence of the leakage-site creation, and that atomic steps on the oxide and at the SiO 2 /Si interface did not cause any serous problem in the quasibreakdown process.

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Section: Characterization Of Individual Current Leakage Sites By Umentioning

confidence: 76%

Characterization of local dielectric breakdown in ultrathin SiO2 films using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy

Watanabe

Baba

Ichikawa³

1999

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…This bond picture also explains the TAT SILCs which contain both dc and transient components [343,355]. The tunnel charge-discharge properties of the traps is explained by this band diagram [45,334,337,344,354,356,668]. Both the positively charged trap and the negatively charged trap have Coulombic cross-sections of mid-10" 13 cm 2 [457,531,593].…”

Section: Oxide Trap Generationmentioning

confidence: 87%

Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability

Dumin

2001

Int. J. Hi. Spe. Ele. Syst.

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The subject of oxide wearout, breakdown, and reliability will be reviewed, largely, from an historical perspective. Five topics will be discussed: oxide breakdown, oxide leakage currents, trap generation, statistics, and reliability. An early model of oxide breakdown, developed by Klein and Solomon, will be described and will be shown to be generally applicable to oxides manufactured today, and to other solid insulators, as well. Both hard and soft breakdowns were included in this model and will be discussed here. The importance of stressinduced-leakage-currents (SILCs) and direct tunneling currents will be discussed in the context of device applications, thinner oxides, and oxide reliability. The diminishing importance of breakdown in ultra thin oxides in ultra small devices will be contrasted with the increasing importance of oxide leakage currents. Trap generation is important in the triggering of breakdown and in the formation of SILCs. Trap generation will be discussed in some detail. Various statistical formulations of oxide breakdown, and how these distributions are related to trap generation, will be discussed. All of these effects will be related to oxide reliability and oxide integrity. An extensive bibliography has been included to help the reader obtain more detailed information concerning the concepts being discussed. Int. J. Hi. Spe. Ele. Syst. 2001.11:617-718. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA on 04/10/15. For personal use only. Int. J. Hi. Spe. Ele. Syst. 2001.11:617-718. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA on 04/10/15. For personal use only. Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability 619found in an early review paper [20]. This wearout/breakdown model will be referred to as the "Klein/Solomon" model below when comparisons with modern works are needed.The Klein/Solomon model has been refined and confirmed continuously from the 1970s through the present time [10,20,. The extent of the damage is determined both by the 1/2 CV 2 energy stored in the capacitor and by the rate at which this energy discharges through the local hot spot [10,20,75,82,83,88,92,93,96,[100][101][102]. The local hot spot is often accompanied by light emission, in many cases incandescence [8-10, 103-115]. Several techniques have been developed for using the damage introduced during the breakdown to study the breakdown process [80,[116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124]. During the breakdown event, the stored energy in the capacitor, 1/2 CV 2 , partially discharges through the breakdown region in a time limited by the impedance of the total measurement system [8][9][10][82][83][84][85].The local breakdowns are intimately coupled to the trap generation and various trap generation models will be discussed in a separate section.During the breakdowns described by Klein/Solomon, one of two scenarios is possible during and following a breakdown discharge. Which scenario takes place depends on the oxide thickness, the oxide area, the magnitude of the stored energy, the ...

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“…2,3) Although it appears that radiation hardness improves considerably as gate oxide becomes thinner, 4,5) it has been found that ionizing radiation can still cause substantial radiation-induced leakage current (RILC) in thin gate oxides. [6][7][8][9] The RILC is similar to the well-known electrical-stress-induced leakage current (SILC), [10][11][12][13] which is a major concern for the reliability of MOS devices with thin gate oxide films. 14,15) Thus, the understanding and control of radiation-induced damages in silicon devices are imperative to the successful implementation of XRL technique.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliability of Thin Gate Oxides Irradiated under X-Ray Lithography Conditions

Cho

Kim

Ang

et al. 2001

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.

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The effect of X-ray lithography (XRL) process on the reliability of thin gate oxide has been investigated. A large increase in the low-field excess leakage current was observed on irradiated oxides, which was very similar to the electrical stress-induced leakage currents. However, it has been found that the long-term reliability of ultra-thin gate oxide is not affected by XRL process. The excess leakage current could be eliminated by thermal annealing at 400 • C and above and no residual damages in the oxide were observed after the annealing.

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Identification of stress-induced leakage current components and the corresponding trap models in SiO/sub 2/ films

Cited by 35 publications

References 13 publications

Characterization of local dielectric breakdown in ultrathin SiO2 films using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy

Characterization of local dielectric breakdown in ultrathin SiO2 films using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy

Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability

Reliability of Thin Gate Oxides Irradiated under X-Ray Lithography Conditions

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