Drain current charge pumping: a new technique for interface trap characterization in VLSI MOS transistors

Abstract

This paper presents a new characterization technique for interface trap properties in MOS transistors. The proposed technique is particularly suited to submicron transistors since its sensitivity is inversely proportional to the square of the transistor's channel length. The proposed method is based on a new analytical model for the pulsed drain current in strong inversion. The model relates the pulsed drain current to the classical charge pumping current thus enabling the determination of the interface trap density and time constant in an easy and accurate way. The method is compared to classical charge pumping measurements and very good agreement is found between the two methods.