Critical Assessment of Soft Breakdown Stability Time and the Implementation of New Post-Breakdown Methodology for ultra-thin gate oxides

Abstract

The stability time assessment of soft breakdown (SBD) and hard breakdown (HBD) methodologies for ultra-thin gate oxides was studied. The new under studied post-BD methodology gave a schematic view of the stress current and implicitly defined the residual time between the first BD and the final device failure. The use of residual time distribution found that the HBD prevalence ratio and the extra time required to reach the device failure, after suffering SBD, were both dependent on the thickness and voltage factors. In this regard, the successive and progressive BD modeling approaches were also discussed.