Ultra fast (<1 ns) electrical characterization of self-heating effect and its impact on hot carrier injection in 14nm FinFETs

Abstract

We demonstrate electrical characterizations within sub-1 ns to investigate the self-heating effect (SHE) in 14 nm FinFETs, for the first time. Thanks to the extremely fast I-V measurement speed (∼500 ps), the heat generation and dissipation process in the transistor channel are precisely captured. Furthermore, the unique correlation between channel temperature and drain current at different gate and drain biases is obtained. With this correlation, the transient and static channel temperatures could be extracted for devices with any working conditions and switching speeds. The impact of SHE on HCI degradation under real circuit stress is also investigated, showing that even under high frequency working conditions (GHz with random signals), SHE still has significant impact on HCI degradation in 14 nm FinFETs.