New rapid method for lifetime determination of gate oxide validated with Bipolar/CMOS/DMOS technology

We have established a new control method in order to decrease drastically t he evaluation time of the gate oxide lifetime in bipolar/CMOS/DMOS technolo gy. This technique is based on the measurement of the Fowler Nordheim (FN) current and on the use of a new equation established between the time to br eakdown (1/E model) and the FN current. This technique applied to a test ce ll (THFE), thanks to direct probing on wafers, reduces the experimental cap acitance measurement time down to four hours instead of several weeks. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.