Stress-induced high-field gate leakage current in ultra-thin gate oxide

A number of groups have reported that the low-field stress-induced leakage current (SILC) in thin oxides increased after the oxides had been subjected to high voltage stresses. In this study, we observed that high-field SILC increased after the oxides had been subjected to high voltage stresses. The experimental results suggest strongly that SILC must be considered at a hi gh-field region, and the dependence of the high-field SILC on the measureme nt field E-ox is proportional to exp(cE(ox)), as compared to the exp(-c/E-o x), at a low field which was reported by some researchers. The high-field S ILC increases and saturates after a long stress time, when the stress time increases, which is similar to the low-field SILC. Using the method of prop ortional difference operator, the trap generation/capture time constant can be obtained. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.