Effects of Electron Current and Hole Current on Dielectric Breakdown in HfSiON Gate Stacks

The roles of electrons and holes in the dielectric breakdown of HfSiON have been investigated by controlling the numbers of injected hot electrons and hot holes separately by the substrate hot-carrier injection technique. It has been clarified that carrier flux has the strongest effect on the dielectric breakdown of HfSiON rather than carrier energy and the electric field across dielectrics. The amount of electron flux leading to the dielectric breakdown of HfSiON is about twice as large as that of hole flux. (C) 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physics