Extended Mie-Grüneisen molecular model for time dependent dielectric breakdown in silica detailing the critical roles of O–SiO3 tetragonal bonding, stretched bonds, hole capture, and hydrogen release

An extended Mie-Grüneisen molecular model is presented, which describes a bond-breakage process for O–SiO3 tetragonal molecules in silica and the trap-generation process that occurs during time dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) testing. This quantitative molecular model correctly describes important physics routinely reported for silica TDDB testing: the generation of E′ centers, a breakdown strength of Ebd∼15MV∕cm, an effective dipole-moment range of peff=7–13eÅ, and a zero-field activation energy range for bond breakage of ΔHo*=1−2eV. The bond-breakage/trap-generation mechanism is shown to occur when the Si ion transitions from its primary energy minimum (with fourfold coordination) to a secondary saddle point (with threefold coordination). The molecular model also shows clearly that current induced hole capture and hydrogen release can play critically important roles in the TDDB process.