Photo-carrier generation as the origin of Fowler-Nordheim-induced substrate hole current in thin oxides

The widely accepted anode-hole injection model assumes that the breakdown of oxide films during electrical stress is due to backflow of holes created in the anode by hot electrons. This explanation has been supported by the observation of a substrate hole current during Fowler-Nordheim (FN) substrate electron injection in n-type MOSFETs gate. In this paper, we reexamine the origin of the FN-induced substrate hole current. Based on direct experiments performed on nMOSFETs, we concluded that not the anode hole injection, but the generation of electron-hole pairs in the substrate by FN-induced photons in the gate, is the dominant source of the substrate hole current. Consequently, the generally accepted explanation of oxide degradation based on the anode hole injection model might therefore have to be revised.