An experiment that incorporates the deuterium isotope effect into the “hole trapping and electron filling” scenario in silicon metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) devices is presented. It is suggested that Lai’s physical model is only partially true in order to explain all of the observed MOS device degradation phenomena. The isotope effect is exclusively due to hot electrons, not hot holes. Holes might break the Si–O bonds to generate interface traps at VG near VT. The dominant degradation mechanism is the electron-stimulated Si–H bond breaking, although electron trapping also plays a role in degradation.

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