Anode hole injection, defect generation, and breakdown in ultrathin silicon dioxide films

Using a variety of experimental techniques, hot holes are demonstrated to p roduce bulk and interfacial defect sites in silicon dioxide layers of metal -oxide-semiconductor structures. Similar to defect production by hot electr ons, hot holes are shown to generate these sites by the energy they deposit in contacting silicon layers near the oxide interface. This deposited ener gy is believed to release hydrogenic species which can move into and throug h the oxide layer producing defects. The buildup of these defect sites is r elated to the destructive breakdown of ultrathin gate oxides in p-channel f ield-effect transistors under inversion conditions where direct tunneling o f energetic holes to the gate electrode would occur and dominate the curren t in the external circuit at low gate voltages. However, the results presen ted here are inconsistent with current reliability models which use anode h ole injection to explain destructive breakdown of the oxide layer in n-chan nel field-effect transistors where hole currents are small relative to elec tron currents. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.