Evaluation of Hot Carrier Degradation of MOSFET Device
Application Notes
Introduction
As device geometry scales down, reliability problems of semiconductor devices are increasing. The evaluation of hot carrier induced degradation becomes very important for developing reliable ULSI. This application note introduces you to Keysight Technologies, Inc. new solution for evaluation of hot carrier induced degradation of multiple MOSFET devices.
What is Hot Carrier Induced Degradation
Due to the short channel length of MOSFETs in today’s ULSI, the electric field of the channel has become very high. The drain current easily ionizes electrons and holes around the drain (impact ionization), which cause hot electron and hot hole injection into the gate oxide (Drain Avalanche Hot Carrier; see Figure 1). Some of the hot carriers are captured in the deep gate bias region, so the device’s drain current (Id), threshold voltage (Vth), and transconductance (Gm) are shifted.