Nitrogen-enhanced negative bias temperature instability: An insight by experiment and first-principle calculations

Abstract

The nitrogen-enhanced negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) effect has been studied experimentally and theoretically. It is observed that both the interface state and positive fixed charge generation increase linearly with interfacial nitrogen concentration. The experimental results can be understood in terms of the reaction energies of the hydrogen trapping reactions at the interface, which are obtained from first-principle calculations. These results improve our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the nitrogen-enhanced NBTI effect.