Spatio-Temporal Defect Generation Process in Irradiated HfO2 MOS Stacks: Correlated Versus Uncorrelated Mechanisms

In this paper, we analyze the dependence of the Weibull slope (ß) extracted from TDDB tests on HfO2 MOS capacitors (MOSCAPs) on the initial density of defects artificially induced by carefully tuned micro beam irradiation experiments with different carbon dosages. The consistent experimental trend of reducing $p$ with increasing defect density was reproducible only with physics-based breakdown simulations that considered correlated defect generation in HfO2 and localized damage (partial percolation paths) traces created by the impinging ions. Scenarios of spatially random initial defect distribution and random stress-induced defect generation (in space and time) could not explain the experimental trends, confirming that correlated defect generation does exist in HfO2 thereby altering the conventional understanding of TDDB by quite a bit.

[1]  Jordi Suñé,et al.  On the breakdown statistics of very thin SiO2 films , 1990 .

[2]  K. Pey,et al.  Modified Percolation Model for Polycrystalline High-$ \kappa$ Gate Stack With Grain Boundary Defects , 2011, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[3]  K.J.S. Cave,et al.  MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Physics and Technology , 1983 .

[4]  Cheryl J. Dale,et al.  Displacement damage equivalent to dose in silicon devices , 1989 .

[5]  K. Awazu,et al.  Structure of latent tracks created by swift heavy-ion bombardment of amorphous SiO 2 , 2000 .

[6]  G. Bersuker,et al.  Electron-Injection-Assisted Generation of Oxygen Vacancies in Monoclinic HfO2 , 2015 .

[7]  J. Gasiot,et al.  Growth of silicon bump induced by swift heavy ion at the silicon oxide-silicon interface , 2006 .

[8]  C. Trautmann,et al.  Track formation and fabrication of nanostructures with MeV-ion beams , 2004 .

[9]  F. Guarín,et al.  Evolution of the gate current in 32 nm MOSFETs under irradiation , 2016 .

[10]  Meftah,et al.  Track formation in SiO2 quartz and the thermal-spike mechanism. , 1994, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[11]  M. Porti,et al.  Using AFM Related Techniques for the Nanoscale Electrical Characterization of Irradiated Ultrathin Gate Oxides , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science.

[12]  K. Pey,et al.  Multiphysics based 3D percolation framework model for multi-stage degradation and breakdown in high-κ — Interfacial layer stacks , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS).

[13]  Nagarajan Raghavan,et al.  Study of preferential localized degradation and breakdown of HfO2/SiOx dielectric stacks at grain boundary sites of polycrystalline HfO2 dielectrics , 2013 .

[14]  J. Stathis,et al.  Dielectric breakdown mechanisms in gate oxides , 2005 .

[15]  Jordi Suñé,et al.  On the Weibull shape factor of intrinsic breakdown of dielectric films and its accurate experimental determination. Part II: experimental results and the effects of stress conditions , 2002 .

[16]  D. Fink,et al.  Etched ion tracks in silicon oxide and silicon oxynitride as charge injection or extraction channels for novel electronic structures , 2004 .

[17]  Elke Wendler,et al.  Effect of high electronic energy deposition in semiconductors , 2004 .

[18]  G. Bersuker,et al.  Modelling of oxygen vacancy aggregates in monoclinic HfO2: can they contribute to conductive filament formation? , 2015, Journal of physics. Condensed matter : an Institute of Physics journal.

[19]  J. Ziegler,et al.  SRIM – The stopping and range of ions in matter (2010) , 2010 .

[20]  J. McPherson,et al.  Thermochemical description of dielectric breakdown in high dielectric constant materials , 2003 .

[21]  James H. Stathis,et al.  Reliability limits for the gate insulator in CMOS technology , 2002, IBM J. Res. Dev..

[22]  N. Raghavan,et al.  New statistical model to decode the reliability and weibull slope of high-κ and interfacial layer in a dual layer dielectric stack , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium.

[23]  P. McIntyre,et al.  New method for determining flat-band voltage in high mobility semiconductors , 2013 .

[24]  S. Bhoraskar,et al.  Swift heavy ion induced growth of nanocrystalline silicon in silicon oxide , 2003 .

[25]  Luca Larcher,et al.  Time-dependent dielectric breakdown statistics in SiO2 and HfO2 dielectrics: Insights from a multi-scale modeling approach , 2018, 2018 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS).

[26]  Alexander L. Shluger,et al.  A microscopic mechanism of dielectric breakdown in SiO2 films: An insight from multi-scale modeling , 2017 .

[27]  Guido Groeseneken,et al.  Degradation and breakdown in thin oxide layers: mechanisms, models and reliability prediction , 1999 .

[28]  H.W. Kraner,et al.  Radiation detection and measurement , 1981, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[29]  T. Das,et al.  An extension of the Curie-von Schweidler law for the leakage current decay in MIS structures including progressive breakdown , 2011, Microelectron. Reliab..

[30]  Matthew Watkins,et al.  Identification of intrinsic electron trapping sites in bulk amorphous silica from ab initio calculations , 2013 .

[31]  R. Stoller,et al.  On the use of SRIM for computing radiation damage exposure , 2013 .

[32]  Martin L. Green,et al.  Precursor ion damage and angular dependence of single event gate rupture in thin oxides , 1998 .

[33]  Susanne Stemmer,et al.  Comparison of methods to quantify interface trap densities at dielectric/III-V semiconductor interfaces , 2010 .

[34]  G. Groeseneken,et al.  A New TDDB Reliability Prediction Methodology Accounting for Multiple SBD and Wear Out , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[35]  Bin Wang,et al.  Observation of latent reliability degradation in ultrathin oxides after heavy-ion irradiation , 2002 .

[36]  A. Candelori,et al.  Heavy ion irradiation of thin gate oxides , 2000 .

[37]  F. Saigné,et al.  Discontinuous ion tracks on silicon oxide on silicon surfaces after grazing-angle heavy ion irradiation , 2007 .

[38]  Pablo Sergio Mandolesi,et al.  Diagnose of radiation induced single event effects in a PLL using a heavy ion microbeam , 2013, 2013 14th Latin American Test Workshop - LATW.

[39]  Guido Groeseneken,et al.  New insights in the relation between electron trap generation and the statistical properties of oxide breakdown , 1998 .

[40]  Salvatore Lombardo,et al.  Physical mechanism of progressive breakdown in gate oxides , 2014 .

[41]  James H. Stathis,et al.  Modeling of time-dependent non-uniform dielectric breakdown using a clustering statistical approach , 2013 .

[42]  M. Porti,et al.  Grain boundary-driven leakage path formation in HfO2 dielectrics , 2011, 2010 Proceedings of the European Solid State Device Research Conference.

[43]  R. Degraeve,et al.  Low Weibull slope of breakdown distributions in high-k layers , 2002, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[44]  J. R. Srour,et al.  Review of displacement damage effects in silicon devices , 2003 .

[45]  T. Kauerauf,et al.  Time-Dependent Dielectric Breakdown and Stress-Induced Leakage Current Characteristics of 0.7-nm-EOT $\hbox{HfO}_{2}$ pFETs , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability.

[46]  L. Larcher,et al.  Microscopic Modeling of Electrical Stress-Induced Breakdown in Poly-Crystalline Hafnium Oxide Dielectrics , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.