Common origin for stress-induced leakage current and electron trap generation in SiO2

The origin of stress-induced leakage current in ultrathin SiO2 has been quantitatively investigated on the basis of the experimental results on temperature dependence of stress-induced leakage current. We found that stress-induced leakage current is dependent on stressing temperature, and that it is independent of measurement temperature. It has been quantitatively demonstrated for the first time that the activation energy of the appearance of stress-induced leakage current agrees well with that of electron trap generation so far reported. It is discussed quantitatively that stress-induced leakage current and electron trap generation have a common origin.