Improved hot-carrier immunity of p-MOSFET’s with 8nm thick nitrided gate-oxide during bidirectionnal stressing
Abstract
The hot-carrier reliability in p+ poly-gate p-MOSFET's with pure and nitrided 8nm thick gate-oxide is investigated under uniform and localized electron injections. The effects of bidirectionally DC-(AC) stressing on the saturated (linear) - mode transistor parameters are monitored as they represent the worst limitating factor in pass transistors for digital logic applications. With a proper RTA condition and nitridation ambient, it is found that the gate-oxide process obtained by low-pressure plasma nitridation shows better hot-carrier immunity than pure oxide with a significant reduction of charge trapping.