Low voltage stress-induced leakage current in HfO2 dielectric films

✍ Scribed by Tingting Tan; Zhengtang Liu; Hao Tian; Wenting Liu

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 367 KB
• Volume: 171
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0921-5107
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mseb.2010.03.091

✦ Synopsis

The conduction mechanism and the behavior of stress-induced leakage current (SILC) through the HfO 2 high-k layers in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structures have been investigated. Assisted tunneling of electrons via stress-induced interface traps and bulk oxide traps are responsible for the SILC generation in HfO 2 dielectric. This trapping process depends on the polarity of the applied gate voltage and oxide thickness. The current conduction mechanism of the HfO 2 films is dominated by Poole-Frenkel emission under substrate injection in the region from 1.5 MV/cm to 2.6 MV/cm, confirming that the SILC mechanism is related to the trapping process.