Degradation of polycrystalline HfO2-based gate dielectrics under nanoscale electrical stress
Iglesias Santiso, Vanessa (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Lanza, Mario (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Zhang, K. (Peking University. Department of Electronics)
Bayerl, Albin (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Porti i Pujal, Marc (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Nafría i Maqueda, Montserrat (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Aymerich Humet, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Benstetter, Guenther (University of Applied Sciences Deggendorf. Electrical Engineering Department)
Shen, Z. Y. (Peking University. Department of Electronics)
Bersuker, G. (SEMATECH (Austin, Estats Units d'Amèrica))

Date:	2011
Abstract:	The evolution of the electrical properties of HfO2/SiO2/Si dielectric stacks under electrical stress has been investigated using atomic force microscope-based techniques. The current through the grain boundaries (GBs), which is found to be higher than thorough the grains, is correlated to a higher density of positively charged defects at the GBs. Electrical stress produces different degradation kinetics in the grains and GBs, with a much shorter time to breakdown in the latter, indicating that GBs facilitate dielectric breakdown in high-k gate stacks.
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Dielectric thin films ; Dielectrics ; Electric currents ; Electrical properties ; Leakage currents
Published in:	Applied physics letters, Vol. 99, Issue 10 (September 2011) , p. 103510/1-103510/3, ISSN 1077-3118

DOI: 10.1063/1.3637633

4 p, 1003.7 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Engineering > The Reliability of Electron Devices and Circuits group (REDEC)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles