New insights into breakdown modes and their evolution in ultra-thin gate oxide

By carefully analyzing post-breakdown current-voltage characteristics of MOS devices, it was found that the soft-breakdown mode typically induced in devices with oxide thinner than 3 nm is quite different from that with oxide thicker than 3 nm. Based on our findings, a unified model is proposed to explain the evolution of different breakdown modes. Impacts of each breakdown on the device's switching behavior are also discussed.