OXIDE AND INTERFACE DEGRADATION AND BREAKDOWN UNDER MEDIUM AND HIGH-FIELD INJECTION CONDITIONS - A CORRELATION STUDY

Oxide degradation and breakdown are studied using Substrate Hot Electr on (SHE) and Fowler-Nordheim (FN) injection techniques. It is shown th at the generation of electron traps during stress and breakdown are id entical with both techniques and therefore SHE-injection can be used t o study breakdown mechanisms at medium oxide fields that are not acces sible with FN-injection. Breakdown is found to occur when a critical e lectron trap density is reached. In the high field range, it is shown that this critical trap density corresponds to a critical hole fluence , linking the models based on electron trap generation and on hole flu ence together.