Ultra-thin gate oxide reliability in the ESD time domain

The universality of the power-law model for the time to breakdown of thin gate oxides is experimentally established from ldquoDCrdquo down to the ESD regime. This strong gate oxide breakdown voltage acceleration and the cumulative effect of dielectric degradation have severe impacts on the ESD protection development. The statistical aspects of the gate oxide breakdown, its area dependence and the characterization methodology have to be considered for the determination of the ESD design window.