Injected Charge to Recovery as a Parameter to Characterize the Breakdown Reversibility of Ultrathin HfSiON Gate Dielectric

The injected charge to recovery (
QR
) is presented as a parameter to characterize the dielectric breakdown (BD) reversibility in MOSFETs with an ultrathin high-
k
hafnium-based gate dielectric. The procedure to recover the dielectric is explained, and the dependences of
QR
on the current limit during BD, the polarity of the BD-recovery stresses, and the number of stress cycles are analyzed.