Evidence suggests that MOSFET degradation is due to interface-states generation by electrons having 3.7 eV and higher energies. This critical energy and the observed time dependence is explained with physical model involving the breaking of the ≡ Si s H bonds. The device lifetime τ is proportional to I_{sub}^{-2.9}I_{d}^{1.9}\Delta V_{t}^{1.5} . If I sub is large because of small L or large V d , etc., τ will be small. I sub (and possibly light emission) is thus a powerful predictor of τ. The proportionality constant has been found to vary by a factor of 100 for different technologies, offering hope for substantially better reliability through future improvements in dielectric /interface technologies. A simple physical model can relate the channel field E m to all the device parameters and bias voltages. Its use in interpreting and guiding hot-electron scaling are described. LDD structures can reduce E m and I sub and, when properly designed, reduce device degradation.

Hot-electron-induced MOSFET degradation&#8212;Model, monitor, and improvement

Evidence suggests that MOSFET degradation is due to interface-states generation by electrons having 3.7 eV and higher energies. This critical energy and the observed time dependence is explained with a physical model involving the breaking of the = Si/sub s/H bonds. The device lifetime /spl tau/ is proportional to...

Hot-Electron-Induced MOSFET Degradation - Model, Monitor, and Improvement

This paper presents an analysis of the impact of device and technology scaling on active pixel CMOS image sensors. Using the SLA roadmap as a guideline, we calculate the device characteristics that are germane to the image sensing performance of CMOS imagers, and highlight the areas where the CIMOS imager technology may need to depart from "standard" CMOS technologies. The impact of scaling on those analog circuit performance that pertain to image sensing performances are analyzed. Our analyses suggest that while "standard" CMOS technologies may provide adequate imaging performance at the 2-1 /spl mu/m generation without any process change, some modifications to the fabrication process and innovations of the pixel architecture are needed to enable CMOS to perform good quality imaging at the 0.5 /spl mu/m technology generation and beyond. Finally, the challenges to the CMOS imager research community are outlined.

Technology and device scaling considerations for CMOS imagers

The phenomenon of and the physical mechanisms for the generation of minority carriers in the substrate of NMOS and CMOS are studied Secondary impact ionization is not responsible The responsible mechanisms are hot-electron-induced photocarrier generation and, under extreme conditions, forward biasing of the source-substrate junction The photon generation is believed to be due to the bremsstrahlung of the channel hot electrons A theoretical model based on the lucky electron concept and the bremsstrahlung mechanism is proposed The calculated characteristics of photon generation agree well with experimental results About 2 × 10-5photogenerated minority carriers are generated for every (primary) impact-ionization event in NMOSFET Photocarrier-induced leakage current can be fitted with either an inverse square dependence on distance or an exponential dependence with an effective decay length of about 780 µm

Hot-electron-induced photon and photocarrier generation in Silicon MOSFET's

It is known that an n-channel MOSFET, operating in the saturation region, is accompanied by visible light emission. The spectral distribution of this emitted light is reported in this paper for the first time. It behaves as exp (-α . hv) under various bias conditions (α: constant); the energy state of hot electrons is described as a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. The hot-electron temperature in an n-channel MOSFET is experimentally evaluated from the photon spectrum analysis. As compared with the electric field strength calculated by two-dimensional simulation, the hot-electron temperature is found to be determined as a function of the electric field strength in the drain avalanche region.

A study of photon emission from n-channel MOSFET's

Two step impact ionization phenomena near the high electric field drain region are characterized, both theoretically and experimentally, in small geometry NMOS and PMOS structures. Influences of primary and secondary impact ionized carrier flows are quantitatively considered as design constraints in high density MOS memories, more specifically for CMOS devices and also for poly-Si resistor load RAM cells.

S. Kohyama

Papers

Characterization of two step impact ionization and its influence in NMOS and PMOS VLSI's