Analysis of Hundreds of Time Constant Ratios and Amplitudes of Random Telegraph Signal with Very Large Scale Array Test Pattern

Abstract

Random telegraph signal (RTS) noise shows discrete and stochastic switching in two or more states at a drain current or threshold voltage. The capture and emission of carriers in individual traps near a silicon–gate insulator film interface induce RTS noise phenomena. RTS noise has become a crucial problem in analog devices and other devices. To suppress RTS noise, it is necessary to determine the energy level of traps. Time constant ratio has a strong relationship with the energy level of traps in gate insulator films. In this paper, we extract a large number of RTS data sets with large-scale array test patterns and evaluate the gate-bias voltage dependences of time constant ratio and amplitude. We demonstrate that the energy level of traps distributes uniformly at a drain current of at least 0.1–1.0 µA.

Evaluation of Low-Frequency Noise in MOSFETs Used as a Key Component in Semiconductor Memory Devices

“…The time constants can be extracted with µs accuracy using the specific MOSFET measurement mode. The time constant ratio <τe>/<τc> is also an important parameter in RTN because the energy level of a trap that causes RTN is related to the constant ratio as follows [12,[41][42][43].…”

“…where ET and EF represent the energy of the trap and Fermi energy of the channel, respectively; k, T, and g represent Boltzmann constant, temperature, and degeneracy factor, re- The time constant ratio <τ e >/<τ c > is also an important parameter in RTN because the energy level of a trap that causes RTN is related to the constant ratio as follows [12,[41][42][43].…”

Random Telegraph Noises from the Source Follower, the Photodiode Dark Current, and the Gate-Induced Sense Node Leakage in CMOS Image Sensors

“…The pixels with high RNs (blinking or twinkling pixels [7][8][9]) will create fixed-pattern temporal noises flickering from frame to frame. It is known that most of the pixels on the long distribution tails show the behavior of the random telegraph signals (RTS) [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Such noises are called the RTS noises, or the random telegraph noises (RTN).…”

“…A general study of the RTS phenomena in semiconductor devices can be found in a recent book [24], covering a wide range of experimental and theoretical topics. For CIS, the most reported RTN originate from the source followers (SF) of the active pixels [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Although other sources, such as DC-RTS, have been reported [25,26], a comprehensive discrimination and comparison of the various sources of RTN in a CIS cannot be found in the literature yet.…”

Statistical Analysis of the Random Telegraph Noise in a 1.1 μm Pixel, 8.3 MP CMOS Image Sensor Using On-Chip Time Constant Extraction Method

“…To fully understand the RTN, it is necessary to characterize the statistical distributions, emission-capture time constants, activation energies, noise power spectra densities, physical locations, and the relations to detailed fabrication processes. In spite of being studied in the past several decades [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], many RTN-related issues still remain as active research topics due to the nature of its complexity.…”