Resilience of ultra-thin oxynitride films to percolative wear-out and reliability implications for high-κ stacks at low voltage stress

Localized progressive wear-out and degradation of ultra-thin dielectrics around the oxygen vacancy percolation path formed during accelerated time dependent dielectric breakdown tests is a well-known phenomenon documented for silicon oxynitride (SiON) based gate stacks in metal oxide semiconductor f...

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Main Authors: Raghavan, Nagarajan, Padovani, Andrea, Li, Xiang, Bosman, Michel, Wu, Xing, Lip Lo, Vui, Larcher, Luca, Leong Pey, Kin
Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2013
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101175
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/18307
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1011752020-03-07T13:57:24Z Resilience of ultra-thin oxynitride films to percolative wear-out and reliability implications for high-κ stacks at low voltage stress Raghavan, Nagarajan Padovani, Andrea Li, Xiang Bosman, Michel Wu, Xing Lip Lo, Vui Larcher, Luca Leong Pey, Kin School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering Localized progressive wear-out and degradation of ultra-thin dielectrics around the oxygen vacancy percolation path formed during accelerated time dependent dielectric breakdown tests is a well-known phenomenon documented for silicon oxynitride (SiON) based gate stacks in metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors. This progressive or post breakdown stage involves an initial phase characterized by “digital” random telegraph noise fluctuations followed by the wear-out of the percolation path, which results in an “analog” increase in the leakage current, culminating in a thermal runaway and hard breakdown. The relative contribution of the digital and analog phases of degradation at very low voltage stress in ultra-thin SiON (16  Å ´ ) is yet to be fully investigated, which represents the core of this study. We investigate the wear-out process by combining electrical and physical analysis evidences with modeling and simulation results using Kinetic Monte Carlo defect generation and multi-phonon trap assisted tunneling (PTAT) models. We show that the transition from the digital to the analog regime is governed by a critical voltage (VCRIT ), which determines the reliability margin in the post breakdown phase. Our results have a significant impact on the post-breakdown operational reliability of SiON and advanced high-κ–SiOx interfacial layer gate stacks, wherein the SiOx layer seems to be the weakest link for percolation event. Published version 2013-12-18T04:08:00Z 2019-12-06T20:34:41Z 2013-12-18T04:08:00Z 2019-12-06T20:34:41Z 2013 2013 Journal Article Raghavan, N., Padovani, A., Li, X., Wu, X., Lip Lo, V., Bosman, M., et al. (2013). Resilience of ultra-thin oxynitride films to percolative wear-out and reliability implications for high-κ stacks at low voltage stress. Journal of Applied Physics, 114(9), 094504-. 0021-8979 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101175 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/18307 10.1063/1.4819445 en Journal of applied physics © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC. This paper was published in Journal of Applied Physics and is made available as an electronic reprint (preprint) with permission of AIP Publishing LLC. The paper can be found at the following official DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4819445.  One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
Raghavan, Nagarajan
Padovani, Andrea
Li, Xiang
Bosman, Michel
Wu, Xing
Lip Lo, Vui
Larcher, Luca
Leong Pey, Kin
Resilience of ultra-thin oxynitride films to percolative wear-out and reliability implications for high-κ stacks at low voltage stress
description Localized progressive wear-out and degradation of ultra-thin dielectrics around the oxygen vacancy percolation path formed during accelerated time dependent dielectric breakdown tests is a well-known phenomenon documented for silicon oxynitride (SiON) based gate stacks in metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors. This progressive or post breakdown stage involves an initial phase characterized by “digital” random telegraph noise fluctuations followed by the wear-out of the percolation path, which results in an “analog” increase in the leakage current, culminating in a thermal runaway and hard breakdown. The relative contribution of the digital and analog phases of degradation at very low voltage stress in ultra-thin SiON (16  Å ´ ) is yet to be fully investigated, which represents the core of this study. We investigate the wear-out process by combining electrical and physical analysis evidences with modeling and simulation results using Kinetic Monte Carlo defect generation and multi-phonon trap assisted tunneling (PTAT) models. We show that the transition from the digital to the analog regime is governed by a critical voltage (VCRIT ), which determines the reliability margin in the post breakdown phase. Our results have a significant impact on the post-breakdown operational reliability of SiON and advanced high-κ–SiOx interfacial layer gate stacks, wherein the SiOx layer seems to be the weakest link for percolation event.
author2 School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
author_facet School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Raghavan, Nagarajan
Padovani, Andrea
Li, Xiang
Bosman, Michel
Wu, Xing
Lip Lo, Vui
Larcher, Luca
Leong Pey, Kin
format Article
author Raghavan, Nagarajan
Padovani, Andrea
Li, Xiang
Bosman, Michel
Wu, Xing
Lip Lo, Vui
Larcher, Luca
Leong Pey, Kin
author_sort Raghavan, Nagarajan
title Resilience of ultra-thin oxynitride films to percolative wear-out and reliability implications for high-κ stacks at low voltage stress
title_short Resilience of ultra-thin oxynitride films to percolative wear-out and reliability implications for high-κ stacks at low voltage stress
title_full Resilience of ultra-thin oxynitride films to percolative wear-out and reliability implications for high-κ stacks at low voltage stress
title_fullStr Resilience of ultra-thin oxynitride films to percolative wear-out and reliability implications for high-κ stacks at low voltage stress
title_full_unstemmed Resilience of ultra-thin oxynitride films to percolative wear-out and reliability implications for high-κ stacks at low voltage stress
title_sort resilience of ultra-thin oxynitride films to percolative wear-out and reliability implications for high-κ stacks at low voltage stress
publishDate 2013
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101175
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/18307
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