A COUPLED I(V) AND CHARGE-PUMPING ANALYSIS OF STRESS-INDUCED LEAKAGE CURRENTS IN 5NM-THICK GATE OXIDES

Stress Induced Leakage Currents (SILC) are studied in 5 nm-thick oxide s on both capacitors and N-MOSFET's after homogeneous FOWLER-NORDHEIM injections under high field stress (>9MV/cm) for both polarities and l ocalized Hot-Carrier injections. Standard I(V) and high-frequency C(V) curves are used to monitor the degradation in correlation to the Char ge-Pumping (CP) technique. A systematic increase is found in SILC at l ow field (4-8 MV/cm) up to two orders of magnitude after FN injections and we report on the observation of SILC after localized hot hole inj ection. We find a correlation between the SILC increase and the interf ace state (N-it) generation. No trapped charge is detected in 5 nm-thi ck gate oxides during FN stresses but the presence of slow states is e videnced, supporting a tunneling process through neutral oxide traps a s a model for SILC.