The mechanisms of random trap fluctuation in metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors

Abstract

An effect, called random trap fluctuation (RTF), is proposed to study the threshold voltage (V-th) fluctuation of metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) under Fowler-Nordeim (FN) or hot carrier (HC) stress condition. Experiments have been demonstrated on n-channel MOSFETs, and it was found that not only the random dopant fluctuation (RDF) but also the stress-induced traps vary the V-th fluctuation. More importantly, the stress-induced trap barrier determines the V-th fluctuation. For devices after FN stress, V-th fluctuation is enhanced since the trap barrier regulates the transporting carriers. For devices after HC stress, V-th fluctuation is supressed since the carriers are backscattered into the channel by the trap barrier and fewer carriers with higher energy pass through the barrier. These results provide us a clear understanding on another source of V-th fluctuations in addition to the RDF as devices are further scaled. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4768687]