Preliminary Study of the Breakdown Strength of TiN/HfO2/SiO2/Si MOS Gate Stacks

Hafnium oxide integrity is investigated. Time-zero dielectric breakdown tests to determine breakdown strength is performed for electron gate injection over a variety of HfO
₂
thicknesses. Results indicate the breakdown strength is not purely related to the electric field or voltage drop across the high-k but suggests a combination of both. Reliability of the gate stack seems to improve as the HfO
₂
layer thickness decreases