Study of degradation and breakdown properties of HfO2 dielectric by c-AFM and SSPM

We study the degradation and breakdown (BD) properties of HfO₂ dielectric layer by conductive AFM (c-AFM) and electrostatic force microscopy (SSPM). The experiments reveal that the degradation are accumulative processes, which is the consequence of the progressive trap generation and accumulation in dielectric and interfaces, eventually leading to the dielectric oxide permanent damage. The whole degradation process can be categorized into three stages: pre-BD, SBD and HBD.