Reassessment of Dynamic Stress Degradation for Nanoscale MOSFETs Operating in a CMOS Inverter at High Temperature
- Title
- Reassessment of Dynamic Stress Degradation for Nanoscale MOSFETs Operating in a CMOS Inverter at High Temperature
- Authors
- 이남현
- Date Issued
- 2012
- Publisher
- 포항공과대학교
- Abstract
- This thesis investigates the effect of dynamic stress (ON/OFF waveform) on reliability of nanoscale n-and p- channel MOSFETs operating in a CMOS inverter at high temperature. New experimental findings and their underlying degradation mechanisms were described in detail.For nanoscale nMOSFETs with SiON gate dielectric, the OFF-state degradation by drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL) was observed at high temperature. Experimental results indicate that acceptor-like interface traps Nit, positive oxide charges Qox, and neutral electron traps were generated by the OFF-state stress. Although the subsequent ON-state did not produce any new defects, it filled the neutral electron traps and neutralized positive Qox’s, which increased threshold voltage Vth and decreased the OFF-current significantly. A consecutive application of OFF and ON-states caused a buildup of recoverable and permanent electron traps, and interface traps, thus resulting in the significant increase in Vth. The dynamic stress degradation was frequency f-independent up to 500 kHz, which confirms that the transition between ON and OFF-states did not influence the Vth. This implies that the OFF-state-induced defects were the main cause for dynamic stress degradation, which caused a decrease in lifetime of nanoscale nMOSFETs.For nanoscale p¬MOSFETs with SiON gate dielectric, OFF-state degradation by DIBL was also observed at high temperature. Experimental results indicate that the OFF-state stress generated donor-like Nit’s and negative Qox’s, localized near the drain. The ON-state stress produced the negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) which generated Nit’s and positive Qox’s distributed uniformly in the channel. Although the electrons trapped by the OFF-state stress decreased Vth, they were de-trapped readily by the subsequent ON-state stress. Therefore, a consecutive application of OFF and ON-states caused the nanoscale pMOSFET to buildup Nit and positive Qox, which increased Vthsignificantly. Unlike the nMOSFETs, the dynamic stress degradation of pMOSFETs was strongly dependent on the f. When the f was increased, the ON-state (NBTI) degradation was reduced significantly. In contrast, the OFF-state stress suppressed the decrease in Vth with an increase in f because the hot electrons could not be trapped in the oxide located far from the Si interface. These experimental results suggest that the dynamic stress degradation at low f is attributed to both the NBTI- and OFF-state-induced defects while that at high f is influenced by the OFF-state-induced defects only.Dynamic stress degradation of pMOSFETs with TiN/HfSiO gate stacks was also investigated. A consecutive application of dynamic stresses casues a buildup of Nit and electron traps during OFF-state period, and NBTI-induced defects during ON-state period, similar to SiON devices. Unlike SiON devices, however, the OFF-state induced defects did not influence Vth during the subsequent ON-state while the ON-state induced defects were recovered significantly due to the electron trapping during the subsequent OFF-state, thus leading to a more amount of NBTI recovery at an ON/OFF waveform than that at a typical gate-pulsed NBTI (OFF-state at gate bias Vg = drain bias Vd = 0 V). This result indicates that the OFF-state stress can improve the lifetime of pMOSFETs with high-k dielectrics in a scaled circuit.The new experimental observations in this thesis suggest that the OFF-state degradation by the DIBL can impose a significant limitation on CMOS device scaling, thus requiring methods of reducing the DIBL effect while keeping the other device characteristics remaining.
- URI
- http://postech.dcollection.net/jsp/common/DcLoOrgPer.jsp?sItemId=000001218282
https://oasis.postech.ac.kr/handle/2014.oak/1466
- Article Type
- Thesis
- Files in This Item:
- There are no files associated with this item.
Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.