Characterizing wearout, breakdown, and trap generation in thin silicon oxide

It has been shown that trap generation inside thin oxides during high voltage stressing can be coupled to time-dependent-dielectric-breakdown distributions through the statistics linking wearout to breakdown. Since the traps play a crucial role in the wearout/breakdown process, it is important to understand the properties of these traps. Oxides with thicknesses between 2.5 nm and 22 nm have been studied with emphasis on oxides in the 6 nm to 13 nm thickness range. The cross-section of the traps responsible for the scattering of electrons in the tunneling barrier, the thickness dependence of measured trap density, the spatial and energy distribution of the traps, and the charging/discharging properties of the traps have been measured.