Observations of NBTI-Induced Atomic-Scale Defects

Abstract

A combination of MOSFET gate-controlled diode measurements and a very sensitive electron spin resonance technique called spin-dependent recombination was utilized to observe and identify defect centers generated by a negative bias temperature stress in fully processed SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> -based pMOSFETs. In SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> devices, the defects include two Si/SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> interface silicon dangling bond centers (P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">b0</sub> and P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">b1</sub> ) and may also include an oxide silicon dangling bond center (E'). The observations indicate that both P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">b0</sub> and P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">b1</sub> defects play major roles in these SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> -based devices and suggest that E' centers could play an important role