Breakdown mechanisms and stress-induced leakage current in ultra-thin oxides and N/sub 2/O oxynitrides

In this paper, we investigate breakdown mechanisms and stress-induced leakage current (SILC) for conventional thermal oxides and N/sub 2/O oxynitrides. The role of hole generation and trapping in the breakdown of both thermal oxides and oxynitrides is studied in samples with thicknesses ranging from 33-87 /spl Aring/. SILC characteristics of these dielectrics thicknesses are scaled downwards; instead there is a "turnaround" near a thickness of 50 /spl Aring/.