Ultra-thin dielectric breakdown in devices and circuits: A brief review

Chih Hsiang Ho, Soo Youn Kim, Kaushik Roy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB), in which the traps in oxide bulk form a conducting path under application of stress voltage for long period of time, has emerged as one of the important sources of performance degradation in advanced devices. In this paper, we give an overview of the recent progress in the understanding of ultra-thin dielectric breakdown in devices and consider its impact at the circuit-level. From the device point of view, the breakdown (BD) phenomenon, including the BD statistics, trap generation models, and BD evolution in ultra-thin dielectric are presented followed by the recent studies on TDDB in high-k metal gate (HKMG) devices and magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) memories. On the circuit side, we explore methodologies for circuit lifetime assessment, the impact of TDDB on circuit performance degradation, and design techniques to improve circuit reliability.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)308-317
Number of pages10
JournalMicroelectronics Reliability
Volume55
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2015

Keywords

  • Breakdown statistics
  • Circuit lifetime prediction
  • Compact model
  • Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ)
  • Time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB)
  • Ultra-thin dielectric

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