Detection of Stress-Induced Interface Trap Generation on High-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula> Gated nMOSFETs in Real Time by Stress-and-Sense Charge Pumping Technique

Abstract

A stress-and-sense charge pumping (SSCP) technique is proposed in this paper to measure the stress-induced interface trap ( $\Delta N_{{\rm {it}}})$ in real-time evolution without stress interruption. Results show that the $\Delta N_{{\rm {it}}}$ measured by this SSCP technique is much higher than that measured by the conventional method. This difference is resulted from the recovery induced by stress interruption during the sensing measurements. The $\Delta N_{{\rm {it}}}$ measured by SSCP method after interruption is approximately equal to that by the conventional one. The amount of recoverable $\Delta N_{{\rm {it}}}$ is almost constant and independent of permanent damage. The stress-induced threshold voltage shift ( $\Delta V_{{\rm {th}}})$ and $\Delta N_{{\rm {it}}}$ under various stress frequencies and duty cycles are also measured. The $\Delta V_{{\rm {th}}}$ seems to depend only on the total stress time of stress pulse. The $\Delta N_{{\rm {it}}}$ measured by SSCP with different frequencies and duty cycles is similar. The $\Delta N_{{\rm {it}}}$ also depends on the total stress time of stress pulse, but not the off time during the nonstress half cycle. In addition, it is found that the recovery induced by nonstress half cycle of ac stress is almost negligible as compared with that induced by stress interruption. Moreover, a two-stage phenomenon is observed on $\Delta N_{{\rm {it}}}$ evolution. Results in this paper indicate that the stressing indeed induces trap generation in the first stage.