Low-Frequency Noise After Channel Soft Oxide Breakdown in HfLaSiO Gate Dielectric

Low-frequency noise (LFN) after channel soft oxide breakdown (SBD) of n-MOSFETs with a HfLaSiO gate dielectric and TaN metal gate shows a Lorentzian-like spectrum, which is not observed in HfSiO gate dielectric devices after channel SBD. This is related to the spatial location of the SBD spot. Because La weakens atomic bonding in the interface layer, the SBD spot is generated close to the Si/SiO2 interface. This is verified by using time domain analysis. To examine the property of this Lorentzian-like noise, LFNs after channel SBD are measured repeatedly after arbitrary times. After about 20 h, LFN finally shows an increase only at the low-frequency part of the noise spectrum (f < 1 kHz). These results suggest that the trap distribution after arbitrary times spreads instead of remaining localized. Therefore, the traps or the La-O defect clusters have severe unstable distribution and induce an increase of the localized field, which, in turn, causes the traps to percolate through the high-k dielectric.

[1]  M. von Haartman,et al.  Comprehensive study on low-frequency noise and mobility in Si and SiGe pMOSFETs with high-/spl kappa/ gate dielectrics and TiN gate , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[2]  Yoon-Ha Jeong,et al.  PBTI-Associated High-Temperature Hot Carrier Degradation of nMOSFETs With Metal-Gate/High- $k$ Dielectrics , 2008, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[3]  R. Jammy,et al.  Thermally Stable N-Metal Gate MOSFETs Using La-Incorporated HfSiO Dielectric , 2006, 2006 Symposium on VLSI Technology, 2006. Digest of Technical Papers..

[4]  K. Romanjek,et al.  Low frequency noise characterization and modelling in ultrathin oxide MOSFETs , 2006 .

[5]  Youngmin Kim,et al.  Trench isolation step-induced (TRISI) narrow width effect on MOSFET , 2002, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[6]  Ting-Kuo Kang,et al.  Low-frequency noise in n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors undergoing soft breakdown , 2001 .

[7]  Gunhee Han,et al.  Erratum for ‘High-speed, low-power correlated double sampling counter for column-parallel CMOS imagers’ , 2008 .

[8]  Mark E. Law,et al.  Simulation of oxide trapping noise in submicron n-channel MOSFETs , 2003 .

[9]  G. Bersuker,et al.  nMOSFET Reliability Improvement attributed to the Interfacial Dipole formed by La Incorporation in HfO2 , 2007 .

[10]  Fang Wang,et al.  Low-frequency noise in submicrometer MOSFETs with HfO/sub 2/, HfO/sub 2//Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ and HfAlO/sub x/ gate stacks , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[11]  A. Toriumi,et al.  Dielectric Breakdown in High-K Gate Dielectrics - Mechanism and Lifetime Assessment , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium Proceedings. 45th Annual.

[12]  Cor Claeys,et al.  On the flicker noise in submicron silicon MOSFETs , 1999 .

[13]  J.C. Lee,et al.  Area dependence of TDDB characteristics for HfO2 gate dielectrics , 2002, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[14]  R. Degraeve,et al.  Relation between breakdown mode and breakdown location in short channel NMOSFETs and its impact on reliability specifications , 2001, 2001 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium Proceedings. 39th Annual (Cat. No.00CH37167).

[15]  Gérard Ghibaudo,et al.  Electrical noise and RTS fluctuations in advanced CMOS devices , 2002, Microelectron. Reliab..

[16]  J. Widiez,et al.  Materials Science-based Device Performance Engineering for Metal Gate High-k CMOS , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting.