Non-Arrhenius temperature dependence of reliability in ultrathin silicon dioxide films

The non-Arrhenius temperature dependence observed in the charge-to-breakdow n data in thin oxides is related to the temperature dependence of the defec t buildup in the same films. For each temperature, this defect buildup is s tudied as a function of the defect generation probability and the total num ber of defects at breakdown. Each of these quantities is shown to have its own unique temperature dependence, which when combined gives the results ob served for the charge-to-breakdown data. As the oxide layers are made thinn er, the temperature dependence of the defect generation probability dominat es these observations. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951( 99)02912-5].