Direct observation of electron emission and recombination processes by time domain measurements of charge pumping current

Abstract

To analyze the charge pumping (CP) sequence in detail, the source/drain electron current and the substrate hole current under the CP mode of transistors are simultaneously monitored in the time domain. Peaks are observed in both the electron and hole currents, which are, respectively, attributed to the electron emission from the interface defects and to the recombination with holes. The peak caused by the electron emission is found to consist of two components, strongly suggesting that the present time-domain measurement can enable us to resolve different kinds of interface defects. Investigating the correlation between the number of emitted and recombined electrons reveals that only one of the two components contributes to the CP current for the gate-pulse fall time from 6.25 × 10−4 to 1.25 × 10−2 s.