On the breakdown statistics of thin SiO/sub 2/ films

It is shown that the experimental breakdown distributions for thin SiO/sub 2/ films can be explained by assuming that the breakdown is closely related to the degradation of its structure. The model, relating the degradation to the generation of neutron trapping sites, is compatible with the use of extreme-value distributions, and it also provides a simple physical interpretation of the parameters involved. The fact that the local breakdown area has been found to be always of the same order of magnitude provides further support for the proposed model. The failure distributions obtained under constant-current and constant-voltage stresses is compared with the widely used Weibull distribution. Results of Monte Carlo simulations of the breakdown statistics are reported.<>