Energy considerations during the growth of a molten filament in metal-to-metal amorphous-silicon antifuses

Vasudevan, N.; Fair, Richard B.; Massoud, Hisham Z.

doi:10.1063/1.368743

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…This breakdown description seems to be universally applicable to solid insulators [238][239][240][241][242][243][244][245][246][247][248][249]. Early descriptions of the wearout/breakdown process [250] are quite similar to more modern descriptions [251].…”

mentioning

confidence: 77%

Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability

Dumin

2002

Oxide Reliability

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mentioning

confidence: 77%

Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability

Dumin

2002

Oxide Reliability

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“…10 Further proof that this transition depends on the current and not the voltage is provided by the fact that the current I pf is relatively independent of the via size. 4 For via sizes ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 m, the current at which this transition occurs is on the order of 10 to 20 A as shown in Fig. 4.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The temperature in the antifuse under a given set of programming conditions is obtained by solving the heat equation. Then, the maximum temperature at the edges of the via at a given applied voltage is given by [4] where T amb is the ambient temperature, the thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon, a the radius of the via, i a constant, and J n (x) the Bessel function of the first kind of order n. The constant i is determined to be the root of the transcendental equation J 0 (a) ϭ 0 [5] From Fig. 1, the above equation can be reduced to T max ϭ 1.29206 ϫ 10 Ϫ6 V af exp(1.98945V af ) ϩ T amb [6] This steady-state temperature value is calculated for various values of the applied voltage.…”

Section: Thermal Model and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Thermal Model for the Initiation of Programming in Metal‐to‐Metal Amorphous‐Silicon Antifuses

Vasudevan¹,

Massoud²,

Fair³

1999

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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An antifuse is a programmable element which normally resides in a high-resistance state called the "OFF-state." It can be switched into a low-resistance state called the "ON-state" by the application of a high-voltage pulse. [1][2][3] We have previously reported on the energy considerations during the growth of a molten filament in metalto-metal amorphous-silicon antifuses, 4 and on the ON-state reliability of amorphous-silicon antifuses. 5 In this paper, we present a thermal model for the initiation of programming in these antifuses.The antifuses studied in this work are located in the via between two metal layers. The bottom metal electrode is Al-Si-Cu/TiW and the top metal electrode is Ti/TiW/Al-Si-Cu. The via is circular with diameter ranging from 0.5 to 2 m. The amorphous-silicon layer is deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of SiH 4 at 400ЊC. The amorphous-silicon layer thickness ranges from 500 to 1500 Å. ExperimentalThe dependence of the current I af in the antifuse on the applied voltage V app is shown in Fig. 1. The amorphous-silicon antifuse is initially in the OFF-state. In this state, its resistance R OFF is on the order of several megaohms. It is programmed to a low-resistance state (ON-state) by applying a voltage across its electrode pads through a series resistance R ser . The voltage is applied using the HP4145B semiconductor parameter analyzer. The current through the antifuse is measured using the same HP4145B. The current at the initiation of programming is denoted by I pf and the corresponding voltage is V pf . The series resistance R ser controls the programming current I pp and the final ON-state resistance R ON . The resistance in the ON-state is on the order of 25 to 200 ⍀ and it depends on the programming conditions. 3,6,7 The programming voltage V pp and the series resistance R ser control the programming conditions. Without the series resistance, there is no control of the power dissipated in the antifuse during programming. 8 Programming under these conditions leads to a much lower ON-resistance as shown in Fig. 2. In this figure, seven devices were measured for each data point. In the case with no series resistance, the standard deviation ranged from a low value of 0.61 ⍀ to a high value of 0.88 ⍀. In the case where R ser ϭ 760 ⍀, the standard deviation of the antifuse ON-resistance ranged from a low value of 3.86 ⍀ to a high value of 7.05 ⍀.Before programming, the applied voltage appears entirely across the antifuse as R OFF >> R ser . In the ON-state, most of the voltage drop appears across the series resistance because R ON << R ser . This type of A thermal model for the initiation of programming in metal-to-metal amorphous-silicon antifuses is described. The current and field crowding at the edges of the via cause the temperature at the via corners to increase due to Joule heating. Programming is initiated when the temperature at the via edges reaches the melting temperature of amorphous silicon. The model presented in this work explains how the thickne...

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Section: Oxide Breakdownmentioning

confidence: 91%

Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability

Dumin

2001

Int. J. Hi. Spe. Ele. Syst.

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The subject of oxide wearout, breakdown, and reliability will be reviewed, largely, from an historical perspective. Five topics will be discussed: oxide breakdown, oxide leakage currents, trap generation, statistics, and reliability. An early model of oxide breakdown, developed by Klein and Solomon, will be described and will be shown to be generally applicable to oxides manufactured today, and to other solid insulators, as well. Both hard and soft breakdowns were included in this model and will be discussed here. The importance of stressinduced-leakage-currents (SILCs) and direct tunneling currents will be discussed in the context of device applications, thinner oxides, and oxide reliability. The diminishing importance of breakdown in ultra thin oxides in ultra small devices will be contrasted with the increasing importance of oxide leakage currents. Trap generation is important in the triggering of breakdown and in the formation of SILCs. Trap generation will be discussed in some detail. Various statistical formulations of oxide breakdown, and how these distributions are related to trap generation, will be discussed. All of these effects will be related to oxide reliability and oxide integrity. An extensive bibliography has been included to help the reader obtain more detailed information concerning the concepts being discussed. Int. J. Hi. Spe. Ele. Syst. 2001.11:617-718. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA on 04/10/15. For personal use only. Int. J. Hi. Spe. Ele. Syst. 2001.11:617-718. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA on 04/10/15. For personal use only. Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability 619found in an early review paper [20]. This wearout/breakdown model will be referred to as the "Klein/Solomon" model below when comparisons with modern works are needed.The Klein/Solomon model has been refined and confirmed continuously from the 1970s through the present time [10,20,. The extent of the damage is determined both by the 1/2 CV 2 energy stored in the capacitor and by the rate at which this energy discharges through the local hot spot [10,20,75,82,83,88,92,93,96,[100][101][102]. The local hot spot is often accompanied by light emission, in many cases incandescence [8-10, 103-115]. Several techniques have been developed for using the damage introduced during the breakdown to study the breakdown process [80,[116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124]. During the breakdown event, the stored energy in the capacitor, 1/2 CV 2 , partially discharges through the breakdown region in a time limited by the impedance of the total measurement system [8][9][10][82][83][84][85].The local breakdowns are intimately coupled to the trap generation and various trap generation models will be discussed in a separate section.During the breakdowns described by Klein/Solomon, one of two scenarios is possible during and following a breakdown discharge. Which scenario takes place depends on the oxide thickness, the oxide area, the magnitude of the stored energy, the ...

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Energy considerations during the growth of a molten filament in metal-to-metal amorphous-silicon antifuses

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability

Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability

A Thermal Model for the Initiation of Programming in Metal‐to‐Metal Amorphous‐Silicon Antifuses

Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability

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