Experiments based on substrate hot-electron generation due to impact ionization are designed to reveal whether the hydrogen/deuterium ͑H/D͒ isotope effect is caused by the density of electrons or their energy. It is found that the H/D isotope effect for hot-electron degradation is strongly dependent on the density of hot electrons presented at the interface. This suggests that the multiple vibrational excitation ͑heating͒ plays a major role in hot-carrier degradation of metal-oxidesemiconductor ͑MOS͒ transistors. Because of the unique nature of multiple vibrational excitation ͑heating͒, low-energy electrons are able to break SiuH/D bonds in MOS devices. This implies that hot-electron degradation is still an important reliability issue even if the drain voltage is scaled down to below 1 V.

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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.