A Single Pulse Charge Pumping Technique for Fast Measurements of Interface States

Characterizing interface states is a key task, and it typically takes seconds when conventional techniques, such as charge pumping (CP), are used. The stress-induced degradation can recover substantially during this time, and there is a need to improve the measurement speed. The central task of this work is to reduce the measurement time for interface states from seconds to microseconds to minimize the recovery. A fast single pulse CP (SPCP) technique is developed. By exploring the differences in the transient currents corresponding to the two edges of the gate pulse, the net charges pumped into devices can be obtained, and their saturation level is used to evaluate interface states. Unlike the conventional CP (CCP) method, the contribution of currents during the plateaus of gate pulse is excluded for SPCP, making it less vulnerable to the interferences of gate leakage and defects within dielectrics. For the first time, the SPCP allows the recovery of interface states being monitored with a time resolution in microseconds. The results show that the recovery of stress-induced interface states is substantial within 100 μs, which would be missed if the CCP were used.

[1]  R. Degraeve,et al.  Defects Generation in SIO2/HFO2 Studied with Variable TCHARGE-TDIScharge Charge Pumping (VT2CP) , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium Proceedings. 45th Annual.

[2]  R. Degraeve,et al.  DEFECTS GENERATION IN SIO 2 /HFO 2 STUDIED WITH VARIABLE T CHARGE - TDISCHARGE CHARGE PUMPING (VT 2 CP). , 2007 .

[3]  C. Merckling,et al.  Germanium for advanced CMOS anno 2009: a SWOT analysis , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM).

[4]  Guido Groeseneken,et al.  Hole Trapping and Trap Generation in the Gate , 2001 .

[5]  Y. Yeo,et al.  Fast and slow dynamic NBTI components in p-MOSFET with SiON dielectric and their impact on device life-time and circuit application , 2005, Digest of Technical Papers. 2005 Symposium on VLSI Technology, 2005..

[6]  B. Kaczer,et al.  Real Vth instability of pMOSFETs under practical operation conditions , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting.

[7]  William Eccleston,et al.  Electron trap generation in thermally grown SiO2 under Fowler-Nordheim stress , 1992 .

[8]  T. P. Chen,et al.  Nitrogen-enhanced negative bias temperature instability: An insight by experiment and first-principle calculations , 2003 .

[9]  J. Zhang,et al.  On positive charge formed under negative bias temperature stress , 2007 .

[10]  G. Groeseneken,et al.  On the geometric component of charge-pumping current in MOSFETs , 1993, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[11]  David R. Burton,et al.  On the interface states generated under different stress conditions , 2001 .

[12]  B. Kaczer,et al.  An Analysis of the NBTI-Induced Threshold Voltage Shift Evaluated by Different Techniques , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[13]  M. Uren,et al.  An improved technique for the evaluation of surface Fermi energy in metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors , 1994 .

[14]  L. Terman.  An investigation of surface states at a silicon/silicon oxide interface employing metal-oxide-silicon diodes , 1962 .

[15]  S. Deora,et al.  A Common Framework of NBTI Generation and Recovery in Plasma-Nitrided SiON p-MOSFETs , 2009, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[16]  Mingzhen Xu,et al.  Application of the difference subthreshold swing analysis to study generation of interface traps in MOS structures due to Fowler-Nordheim aging , 1994 .

[17]  S. De Gendt,et al.  Dominant Layer for Stress-Induced Positive Charges in Hf-Based Gate Stacks , 2008, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[18]  T. Ma,et al.  Effects of electron‐beam radiation on MOS structures as influenced by the silicon dopant , 1977 .

[19]  Ming-Fu Li,et al.  New Insights of BTI Degradation in MOSFETs with SiON Gate Dielectrics , 2009 .

[20]  B. Kaczer,et al.  NBTI Lifetime Prediction and Kinetics at Operation Bias Based on Ultrafast Pulse Measurement , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[21]  Chenming Hu,et al.  Hot-Electron-Induced MOSFET Degradation - Model, Monitor, and Improvement , 1985, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[22]  G. Groeseneken,et al.  A reliable approach to charge-pumping measurements in MOS transistors , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[23]  Guido Groeseneken,et al.  Continuing degradation of the SiO2/Si interface after hot hole stress , 1997 .

[24]  T. Grasser,et al.  A Combined Study of p- and n-Channel MOS Devices to Investigate the Energetic Distribution of Oxide Traps After NBTI , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[25]  K. Yoshida,et al.  Study on the generation process of the discharge for color plasma displays based on observation by using an ultra-high-speed electronic camera , 2000 .

[26]  E. H. Nicollian,et al.  Mos (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Physics and Technology , 1982 .

[27]  R. Degraeve,et al.  Degradation of oxides and oxynitrides under hot hole stress , 2000 .

[28]  Guido Groeseneken,et al.  Analysis of the kinetics for interface state generation following hole injection , 2003 .