Experimental study of gate oxide early-life failures

Abstract

Large-scale experimental data from 90nm test chips consisting of 49,152 transistors, and experiments on 90nm test chips containing inverter chains are used to establish: 1. A gate-oxide early-life failure (ELF, also called infant mortality) candidate transistor produces gradually degraded drive currents over time; 2. A digital circuit path consisting of a gate-oxide ELF candidate transistor experiences gradual delay shifts over time before the circuit produces functional failures. These results may be utilized to effectively overcome ELF challenges in scaled CMOS technologies.