(Ultra)thin oxide breakdown(s), an overview

Abstract

This paper briefly reviews the main degradation mechanisms which occur in thin oxides during Fowler-Nordheim electron injection in order to better highlight the evolutions of the oxide failure modes when scaling down the oxide thickness. In particular, the impact of the oxide thickness scaling down on the breakdown phenomena is analyzed. Moreover, the quasi-breakdown phenomenon, a new failure mode observed in ultrathin oxides, is described and a methodology to rigorously address the ultrathin oxide reliability is given.