Characterization of Breakdown Sites in Ultrathin Oxides by Optical Emission Imaging

Copyright © (2004) American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics

Hot carrier luminescence excited by direct tunneling at low voltages through fresh, ultra-thin gate oxides in silicon FETs, and by localized transport processes during progressive breakdown of these devices, has been studied. The optical emission provides information on the number of
breakdown spots, and the nature of the charge transport through a breakdown spot in nFETs. The transition from stress induced leakage currents involving isolated atomic defects to reversible breakdown events to final breakdown was accompanied by changes in the efficiency of the light
emission. These changes show the evolution from highly inelastic transport processes to elastic transport through breakdown spots.

By: J. C. Tsang, B. P. Linder

Published in: Applied Physics Letters, volume 84, (no 23), pages 4641-3 in 2004

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