CMOS Device and Circuit Degradations Subject to $\hbox{HfO}_{2}$ Gate Breakdown and Transient Charge-Trapping Effect

Abstract

The gate leakage current of HfO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> MOSFETs exhibits the power law characteristics after soft breakdown (BD) and the linear behavior after hard BD. Fast transient charge-trapping effect (FTCTE) shifts the inverter transfer characteristics but does not affect the high and low output voltages. The ring oscillator remains functional after gate BD. The BD position near the drain end of the n-channel transistor increases the noise figure (NF) significantly, whereas FTCTE has minor impact on the NF of the folded cascode low-noise amplifier