Impact of oxide degradation on universal mobility behaviour of n-MOS inversion layers

The effect of oxide damage on the electron mobility in n-channel inversion layers is studied. It is observed that as a result of stress, the universal mobility model becomes interface charge dependent. The effect of interface damage, attributed to Coulomb scattering in the region of strong inversion, can be described by a change in universal model parameters with interface charge (N/sub it/). An N/sub it/-dependent model is presented which can be easily assimilated in simulation tools by circuit designers to accurately predict impact of device degradation on performance.