Stress-induced leakage current (SILC) and oxide breakdown: are they from the same oxide traps?

Many research groups have used stress-induced leakage current SILC as a mean to measure the oxide traps (defects) buildup in the oxide film during electrical stress. It is commonly believed that these very same traps will lead to oxide breakdown when their density reaches a critical value. We studied the annealing kinetic of SILC as well as, the oxide breakdown distribution and found that they are quite different. Our result casts serious doubt on the validity of the popular assumption.