Mismatches after Hot-Carrier Injection in Advanced Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Technology Particularly for Analog Applications

Abstract

In this paper, the impact of hot carrier stress on the mismatch properties of n and p metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) field-effect transistors (FETs) with different sizes produced using 0.15 µm complementary MOS (CMOS) technology is presented for the first time. The research reveals that hot-carrier injection (HCI) does degrade the matching properties of MOSFETs. The degree of degradation closely depends on the strength of the HC effect. Thus, it is found that, under the stress condition of drain avalanche hot carrier (DAHC), the properties of nMOSFETs rapidly and greatly become worse, but the changes are small for pMOSFETs. For analog circuit parameters, it is found that the after-stress lines of n and pMOSFETs exhibit a cross point in σ (ΔVt,op) drawings. It is suggested that the cross point can be used to indicate the minimal size in order for n and p pairs to have the same degree of ΔVt,op mismatch in designing analog circuits. In addition, interpretations for the differences between n and pMOSFETs and between ΔVt,op and Ids,op mismatches are provided with experimental verifications.

Transistor variability after CHC and NBTI stress in 90 nm pMOSFET technology

“…An early study indicated that the mismatches of n-channel MOSFETs' (nMOSFETs) current gain factors (b) and threshold voltages (V t ) owing to HC stress in nMOSFETs of one dimension were reported to increase monotonously with stress time [5], implying that HC-induced device mismatches have a large impact on the reliability of devices and circuits. Recently, the mismatches of n-and pMOSFETs after drain avalanche HC (DAHC, V g stressed at maximal substrate current) stress were investigated [6]. It was found that the matching properties of nMOSFETs were rapidly becoming worse, but the changes were small for pMOSFETs.…”

Bit-Error-Rate Evaluation of Super-Resolution Near-Field Structure Read-Only Memory Discs with Semiconductive Material InSb

“…Although the stress voltages of the pMOSFETs were 0.2 V higher than those of nMOSFETs, it is noteworthy that their degradation can reach a comparable level, since the HC-induced degradation of pMOSFETs is usually one to two orders of magnitude smaller than that of nMOSFETs. 12,13) …”

Investigation of DC Hot-Carrier Degradation at Elevated Temperatures for p-Channel Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors of 0.13 µm Technology

“…Although the stress voltages of the pMOSFETs were 0.2 V higher than those of nMOSFETs, it is noteworthy that their degradation can reach a comparable level, since the HC-induced degradation of pMOSFETs is usually one to two orders of magnitude smaller than that of nMOSFETs. 12,13)…”