Experimental evidence for voltage driven breakdown models in ultrathin gate oxides

Abstract

We have performed an experiment proving that the widely accepted E-field TDDB model is a physically incorrect description of breakdown in ultrathin gate oxides. Although interface traps are the dominant SILC mechanism below 5 V stress, breakdown remains limited by bulk trap generation and is voltage-driven. It has been recently proposed that the anode hole injection model is still operative at low voltages. Although we will show that holes do generate bulk traps and cause breakdown in ultrathin oxides, hole injection does not completely account for all of the trap generation mechanisms observed during direct tunneling stress.