Relating CMOS inverter lifetime to DC hot-carrier lifetime of NMOSFETs

The authors report that comparison with measured 75-MHz CMOS ring-oscillator speed degradation suggests that quasi-static circuit aging simulations using DC stress data do not underestimate circuit degradation. Roughly speaking, 10% degradation in NMOSFET linear current results in only about 1.3% increase in CMOS inverter propagation delay. This 10% current degradation occurs in an inverter-based circuit over a time that is about six times the MOSFET DC lifetime at maximum I/sub sub/ and about 30 times the DC lifetime at maximum I/sub sub//sup 3//I/sub ds//sup 2/.<
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