Mechanisms of Localized Charge Injection: A Technique to Characterize Gate Edge Damage in MOS Transistors

In this paper we discuss the detailed mechanism of Localized Charge Injection (LCI) technique which was proposed recently to characterize gate edge damage and gate oxide thickening in deep submicron MOS transistors. Under the condition of large reverse voltage applied between the gate and drain with channel biased in accumulation, we show from experimental and 2-D device simulation results that charge injection into the gate oxide will be localized only at the gate-drain overlap region. The ga�e voltage required to sustain this localized charge injection will be shown in this work as being extremely sensitive to the edge oxide thickness and can be used as a measure of plasma edge damage which occurs during processing.