Role of anode hole injection and valence band hole tunneling on interface trap generation during hot carrier injection stress

Interface trap (N/sub IT/) generation and recovery due to broken /spl equiv/Si-H bonds at the Si/SiO/sub 2/ interface is studied during and after hot carrier injection (HCI) stress and verified by a two-dimensional reaction-diffusion model. N/sub IT/ generation and recovery characteristics do not correlate with channel hot electron (HE) density distribution (verified by Monte Carlo simulations). Anode hole injection, which is triggered by HE injection into the gate poly, and valence band hole tunneling, which is triggered for thinner oxides, must be invoked to properly explain experimental results. The observed hole-induced, not electron-induced, breaking of /spl equiv/Si-H bonds during HCI stress is also consistent with that for negative bias temperature instability stress.