Impact of oxide thickness on SEGR failure in vertical power MOSFETs; development of a semi-empirical expression

This paper investigates the role that the gate oxide thickness (T/sub ox/) plays on the gate and drain failure threshold voltages required to induce the onset of single-event gate rupture (SEGR). The impact of gate oxide thickness on SEGR is experimentally determined from vertical power metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) having identical process and design parameters, except for the gate oxide thickness. Power MOSFETs from five variants were specially fabricated with nominal gate oxide thicknesses of 30, 50, 70, 100, and 150 nm. Devices from each variant were characterized to mono-energetic ion beams of Nickel, Bromine, Iodine, and Gold. Employing different bias conditions, failure thresholds for the onset of SEGR were determined for each oxide thickness. Applying these experimental test results, a previously published empirical expression is extended to include the effects of gate oxide thickness. In addition, observations of ion angle, temperature, cell geometry, channel conductivity, and curvature at high drain voltages are briefly discussed.