A new gate current measurement technique for the characterization of hot-carrier-induced degradation in MOSFETs

The floating-gate technique has been used extensively for studying hot-carrier effects in MOSFETs. However, this technique can cause the device to degrade if the measurement time is too long. A new method is proposed, which allows the I/sub g/-V/sub g/ curves of the MOSFETs to be determined in a shorter time, thereby reducing the risk of degrading the test device during the measurement process.