A new drain-current injection technique for the measurement of off-state breakdown voltage in FETs

A simple three-terminal technique for measuring the off-state breakdown voltage of FETs is presented. With the source grounded, current is injected into the drain of the on-state device. The gate is then ramped down to shut the device off. In this process, the drain-source voltage rises to a peak and then drops. This peak represents an unambiguous definition of three-terminal breakdown voltage. In the same scan, a measurement of the two-terminal gate-drain breakdown voltage is also obtained. The method offers potential for use in a manufacturing environment, as it is fully automatable. It also enables easy measurement of breakdown voltage in unstable and fragile devices.>