Publications [#64725] of Hisham Z. Massoud

Papers Published

1. Thees, H.-J. and Osburn, C.M. and Shiely, J.P. and Massoud, H.Z., Wear-out and stress-induced leakage current of ultrathin gate oxides, Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on the Physics and Chemistry of SiO₂ and the Si-SiO₂ Interface. The Physics and Chemistry of SiO₂ and the Si-SiO₂ Interface - 3 1996 (1996), pp. 677 - 86, Los Angeles, CA, USA
   (last updated on 2007/04/15)

   Abstract:
   Ultrathin (2 to 7 nm) gate oxide wear-out is characterized by ramp breakdown, time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) and stress-induced leakage current (SILC) measurements on n⁺ poly-Si/SiO₂/n-Si capacitors, stressed by high-field tunnel injection of electrons from the Si substrate. A drastic increase of the charge-to-breakdown (Q_BD) with decreasing oxide thickness and lower stress currents was observed. The SILC as a function of oxide thickness and injected charge was measured, and a turn-around behavior at an oxide thickness of 4 nm was observed. For a 3 nm thick oxide, the direct tunneling characteristics are stable even after an enormous charge injection (1000 C/cm²) at a high 12 MV/cm oxide field, and no SILC could be measured within the detection limits of the measurement system. This is strong evidence that oxide wear-out is drastically reduced in the direct tunneling regime

   Keywords:
   electric breakdown;leakage currents;MOS capacitors;silicon;silicon compounds;tunnelling;