A model for silicon‐oxide breakdown under high field and current stress

A recently developed self‐consistent model for gate‐oxide degradation due to charge injection, described in a companion paper, is expanded to include electrical ‘‘wear out’’ breakdown. In the present work, gate‐oxide breakdown is defined to occur when the density of generated neutral trapping sites reaches a critical threshold value at the anode. Breakdown experimental results obtained under constant tunneling current are treated and simulated. The new model deals successfully with oxide breakdown dependence on: injection history, gate‐oxide thickness, charge‐injection current density, injection polarity reversal, gate electrode material, and oxide anneal temperatures.

[1]  N. Klein,et al.  Current runaway in insulators affected by impact ionization and recombination , 1976 .

[2]  B. Ricco,et al.  Novel Mechanism for Tunneling and Breakdown of Thin SiO 2 Films , 1983 .

[3]  N. Klein,et al.  Electrical Breakdown in Solids , 1969 .

[4]  D. Dimaria,et al.  Strong electric field heating of conduction-band electrons in SiO2 , 1984 .

[5]  Y. Nissan-Cohen,et al.  The effect of gate material on oxide degradation due to charge-injection in metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors , 1988 .

[6]  Benoit B. Mandelbrot,et al.  Fractal Geometry of Nature , 1984 .

[7]  C. N. Berglund,et al.  Photoinjection Studies of Charge Distributions in Oxides of MOS Structures , 1971 .

[8]  J. Shappir,et al.  Trap generation and occupation in stressed gate oxides under spatially variable oxide electric field , 1987 .

[9]  S. Holland,et al.  Hole trapping and breakdown in thin SiO2 , 1986, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[10]  J. B. Birks,et al.  Progress in Dielectrics , 1959 .

[11]  J. M. Andrews,et al.  Electrochemical Charging of Thermal SiO2 Films by Injected Electron Currents , 1971 .

[12]  Ih-Chin Chen,et al.  Electrical breakdown in thin gate and tunneling oxides , 1985 .

[13]  C. T. Elliott,et al.  Formative processes in the electric breakdown of potassium bromide , 1966 .

[14]  J. O'dwyer,et al.  Theory of High Field Conduction in a Dielectric , 1969 .

[15]  D. Frohman-Bentchkowsky,et al.  Dynamic model of trapping‐detrapping in SiO2 , 1985 .

[16]  J. J. O'Dwyer,et al.  The theory of electrical conduction and breakdown in solid dielectrics , 1973 .

[17]  B. Ridley.  Mechanism of electrical breakdown in SiO2 films , 1975 .

[18]  Y. Nissan-Cohen,et al.  High‐field and current‐induced positive charge in thermal SiO2 layers , 1985 .

[19]  A. Jonscher,et al.  On a Cumulative Model of Dielectric Breakdown in Solids , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation.

[20]  Stephen E. Holland,et al.  Correlation Between Breakdown and Process‐Induced Positive Charge Trapping in Thin Thermal SiO2 , 1986 .

[21]  S. R. Butler,et al.  Energy and spatial distribution of an electron trapping center in the MOS insulator , 1977 .

[22]  Temperature effects on electron trap generation and occupation in SiO2 , 1988 .

[23]  J. Shappir,et al.  Modeling of charge‐injection effects in metal‐oxide‐semiconductor structures , 1988 .

[24]  M. Liang,et al.  Thickness dependence of oxide breakdown under high field and current stress , 1987 .

[25]  Ingemar Lundström,et al.  Trap‐assisted charge injection in MNOS structures , 1973 .

[26]  E. F. Steigmeier,et al.  High quality polysilicon by amorphous low pressure chemical vapor deposition , 1983 .

[27]  N. Klein,et al.  Current runaway in insulators affected by impact ionization and drift , 1977 .

[28]  N. Klein,et al.  Electrical breakdown of insulators by one‐carrier impact ionization , 1982 .

[29]  M. Knoll,et al.  Comparative studies of tunnel injection and irradiation on metal oxide semiconductor structures , 1982 .

[30]  Thomas H. DiStefano,et al.  Impact ionization model for dielectric instability and breakdown , 1974 .

[31]  N. Klein,et al.  Impact ionization in silicon dioxide at fields in the breakdown range , 1975 .

[32]  J. Shappir,et al.  Oxide trapping under spatially variable oxide electric field in the metal‐oxide‐silicon structure , 1987 .

[33]  L. Pietronero,et al.  Fractal Dimension of Dielectric Breakdown , 1984 .

[34]  H. R. Zeller,et al.  A fractal model of dielectric breakdown and prebreakdown in solid dielectrics , 1986 .

[35]  J. Shappir,et al.  Effects of temperature annealing on charge‐injection‐induced trapping in gate oxides of metal‐oxide‐silicon transistors , 1988 .

[36]  Paul Budenstein,et al.  On the Mechanism of Dielectric Breakdown of Solids , 1980, IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation.

[37]  O. G. Folberth,et al.  Solid State Devices 1985 , 1986 .

[38]  E. Harari.  Dielectric breakdown in electrically stressed thin films of thermal SiO2 , 1978 .

[39]  C. T. Elliott,et al.  Directional electric breakdown of KCl single crystals , 1968 .

[40]  Y. Nissan-Cohen,et al.  Trap generation and occupation dynamics in SiO2 under charge injection stress , 1986 .

[41]  D. Dimaria,et al.  Light Emission from Electron-Injector Structures , 1983 .