Analysis of Data Obtained Using the Thermal-Step Method on a MOS Structure—An Electrostatic Approach

The thermal-step method (TSM) is a nondestructive technique for measuring electric charge, based on the acquisition of a capacitive current appearing when a thermal step of low amplitude is applied to an insulating structure. The electrostatic modeling of a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) structure while crossed by a thermal wave is addressed in this paper, in view of analyzing the data obtained by TSM in conjunction with capacitance–voltage measurements. Applications to MOS samples with 120-nm-thick oxides are presented.