Carrier separation measurement of leakage current under prebreakdown in ultrathin SiO2 films

The anomalously large gate leakage current observed prior to dielectric bre akdown in electrically stressed n(+) gate p metal-oxide-semiconductor field -effect transistors is investigated. Carrier separation measurements reveal that the leakage currents are electron tunneling current, and in some case s are accompanied by noticeable hole-related current at low gate voltages. Experimental results demonstrate the close correlation between this phenome non and soft breakdown in terms of current-voltage characteristics. (C) 200 1 American Institute of Physics.