Ching-En Chen

Hot carrier effect on gate-induced drain leakage current in high-k/metal gate n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

This paper investigates the channel hot carrier stress (CHCS) effects on gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) current in high-k/metal-gate n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors. It was found that the behavior of GIDL current during CHCS is dependent upon the interfacial layer (IL) oxide thickness of high-k/metal-gate stacks. For a thinner IL, the GIDL current gradually decreases during CHCS, a result contrary to that found in a device with thicker IL. Based on the variation of GIDL current at different stress conditions, the trap-assisted band-to-band hole injection model is proposed to explain the different behavior of GIDL current for different IL thicknesses.

On the Origin of Gate-Induced Floating-Body Effect in PD SOI p-MOSFETs

This letter systematically investigates the origin of gate-induced floating-body effect (GIFBE) in partially depleted silicon-on-insulator p-type MOSFETs. The experimental results indicate that GIFBE causes a reduction in the electrical oxide field, leading to an underestimate of negative-bias temperature instability degradation. This can be partially attributed to the electrons tunneling from the process-induced partial n+ polygate. However, based on different operation conditions, we found that the dominant origin of electrons was strongly dependent on holes in the inversion layer under source/drain grounding. This suggests that the mechanism of GIFBE at higher voltages is dominated by the proposed anode electron injection model, rather than the electron valence band tunneling widely accepted as the mechanism for n-MOSFETs.

Impact of Mechanical Strain on GIFBE in PD SOI p-MOSFETs as Indicated From NBTI Degradation

This letter investigates the impact of mechanical strain on gate-induced floating-body effect in partially depleted silicon-on-insulator p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors. The strained FB device has less NBTI degradation than unstrained devices. This behavior can be attributed to the fact that more electron accumulation induced by strain effect reduces the electric oxide field significantly during NBTI stress. Analysis of the body current under source/drain grounded and floating operation indicates an increase in the anode electron injection and electron tunneling from conduction band which occur at the partial poly-Si gate and Si substrate, respectively. This phenomenon can be attributed to the bandgap narrowing which has been induced by the strain effect.

Charge trapping induced drain-induced-barrier-lowering in HfO2/TiN p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect-transistors under hot carrier stress

This letter studies the channel hot carrier stress (CHCS) behaviors on high dielectric constant insulator and metal gate HfO2/TiN p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors. It can be found that the degradation is associated with electron trapping, resulting in Gm decrease and positive Vth shift. However, Vth under saturation region shows an insignificant degradation during stress. To compare that, the CHC-induced electron trapping induced DIBL is proposed to demonstrate the different behavior of Vth between linear and saturation region. The devices with different channel length are used to evidence the trapping-induced DIBL behavior.

Investigation of an anomalous hump in gate current after negative-bias temperature- instability in HfO2/metal gate p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

This Letter investigates a hump in gate current after negative-bias temperature-instability (NBTI) in HfO2/metal gate p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors. Measuring gate current at initial through body floating and source/drain floating shows that hole current flows from source/drain. The fitting of gate current (Ig)-gate voltage (Vg) characteristic curves demonstrates that the Frenkel-Poole mechanism dominates the conduction. Next, by fitting the gate current after NBTI, in the order of Frenkel-Poole then tunneling, the Frenkel-Poole mechanism can be confirmed. These phenomena can be attributed to hole trapping in high-k bulk and the electric field formula Ehigh-k ehigh-k = Q + Esio2esio2.

On the Origin of Anomalous Off–Current Under Hot Carrier Stress in p-Channel DDDMOS Transistors With STI Structure

This letter investigates the abnormal off-current behavior induced by hot carrier stress (HCS) in p-channel double diffused drain metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors with a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure. According to ISE-TCAD simulation, the electric field at the drain-side corners of the high-voltage n-well (HVNW) adjacent to the STI trench is stronger than the electric field in the channel center in width direction. Moreover, because a nitride layer acts as a buffer in STI, the electrons generated by impact ionization at the corners of the HVNW can be easily trapped in the nitride layer or at the liner oxide/nitride layer interface. Furthermore, the extension of electron trapping in STI from drain to source during HCS forms the off-current conductive path. Based on the charge pumping measurements at different operation conditions, this path formation is further demonstrated by the comparisons of charge pumping measurements between initial state and after HCS.

Investigation of abnormal negative threshold voltage shift under positive bias stress in input/output n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with TiN/HfO2 structure using fast I-V measurement

This letter investigates abnormal negative threshold voltage shifts under positive bias stress in input/output (I/O) TiN/HfO2 n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors using fast I-V measurement. This phenomenon is attributed to a reversible charge/discharge effect in pre-existing bulk traps. Moreover, in standard performance devices, threshold-voltage (Vt) shifts positively during fast I-V double sweep measurement. However, in I/O devices, Vt shifts negatively since electrons escape from bulk traps to metal gate rather than channel electrons injecting to bulk traps. Consequently, decreasing pre-existing bulk traps in I/O devices, which can be achieved by adopting HfxZr1−xO2 as gate oxide, can reduce the charge/discharge effect.

High-k shallow traps observed by charge pumping with varying discharging times

In this paper, we investigate the influence of falling time and base level time on high-k bulk shallow traps measured by charge pumping technique in n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with HfO2/metal gate stacks. NT-Vhigh level characteristic curves with different duty ratios indicate that the electron detrapping time dominates the value of NT for extra contribution of Icp traps. NT is the number of traps, and Icp is charge pumping current. By fitting discharge formula at different temperatures, the results show that extra contribution of Icp traps at high voltage are in fact high-k bulk shallow traps. This is also verified through a comparison of different interlayer thicknesses and different TixN1−x metal gate concentrations. Next, NT-Vhigh level characteristic curves with different falling times (tfalling time) and base level times (tbase level) show that extra contribution of Icp traps decrease with an increase in tfalling time. By fitting discharge formula for different tfal...

Abnormal sub-threshold swing degradation under dynamic hot carrier stress in HfO2/TiN n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors

This work finds abnormal sub-threshold swing (S.S.) degradation under dynamic hot carrier stress (HCS) in n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors with high-k gate dielectric. Results indicate that there is no change in S.S. after dynamic HCS due to band-to-band hot hole injection at the drain side which acts to diminish the stress field. Moreover, the impaired stress field causes the interface states to mainly distribute in shallow states. This results in ON state current and transconductance decreases, whereas S.S. degradation is insignificant after dynamic HCS. The proposed model is confirmed by one-side charge pumping measurement and gate-to-drain capacitance at varying frequencies.

Hole injection-reduced hot carrier degradation in n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors with high-k gate dielectric

This work finds a significant difference in degradation under hot carrier stress (HCS) due to additional hole injection in n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors with high-k gate dielectric. A comparison performed on degradation of input/output (I/O) and standard performance (SP) devices showed that performance degradation of the I/O device is worse than the SP device under HCS. For the SP device, both channel-electrons and hot holes can inject into gate dielectric, in which hole acts to diminish the stress field. However, I/O device shows only electron injection. The proposed model is confirmed by gate induced drain leakage current and simulation tool.