Auger recombination enhanced hot carrier degradation in nMOSFETs with positive substrate bias

Abstract

Enhanced hot carrier degradation is observed in DTMOS-like operation mode. This phenomenon is attributed to Auger recombination assisted hot electron process. Measured hot electron gate current and light emission spectrum in nMOSFETs provide evidence that the high-energy tail of channel electrons is increased by the application of a positive substrate bias. As opposed to conventional hot carrier degradation, the Auger enhanced degradation exhibits positive temperature dependence and is more significant at low drain bias.