A comparative study of the on-off switching behavior of metal-insulator-metal antifuses

The on-state reliability of metal-insultor-metal antifuses based on aluminu m nitride, silicon nitride, amorphous silicon, and tetrahedral amorphous ca rbon were investigated and compared. Among them, only the tetrahedral amorp hous carbon antifuses show no spontaneous switching from the on-state to th e off-state during operation. The unwanted switching was found to be associ ated with the presence of pinholes in the upper metal electrode of the anti fuse. The percentages of silicon nitride and amorphous silicon antifuses wi th on-off switching were found to be greatly reduced after thermal annealin g of the insulators. A failure mechanism of an antifuse resulting from ther mal oxidation of its conductive link is proposed.