Correlation of plasma process induced charging with Fowler-Nordheim stress in p- and n-channel transistors

Abstract

We simulated plasma etch induced gate charging by using a Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) stress, and compared the resulting degradation with end-of-line (EOL) antenna transistors in a triple-layer metal CMOS technology. Our studies show good agreement between the effects of F-N current stress and plasma processing induced device deterioration very well. This is also the first known work to explain the effects of in-process plasma charging on p-channel hot-electron reliability.<>