Effective recovery mechanism for latent ESD damage in LDD nMOS transistors using a hot electron treatment

Abstract

An effective mechanism is presented for recovering latent electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage in LDD nMOS transistors using a hot electron treatment. The latent damage is due to the formation of polysilicon filaments between the drain and polysilicon gate, which are formed by the large electric fields generated by the ESD pulse. The filaments form a tunnelling diode between the drain to gate. When the transistor is subjected to a hot electron treatment, the leakage current of the tunnelling diode decreases. The mechanism of recovery is due to the hot electrons accumulating in the oxide thus effectively increasing the barrier of the tunnelling diode.