Observations of NBTI-induced atomic-scale defects

A combination of MOSFET gate-controlled diode measurements and a very sensitive electron spin resonance technique called spin-dependent recombination was utilized to observe and identify defect centers generated by a negative bias temperature stress in fully processed SiO
₂
-based pMOSFETs. In SiO
₂
devices, the defects include two Si/SiO
₂
interface silicon dangling bond centers (P
_b0
and P
_b1
) and may also include an oxide silicon dangling bond center (E'). The observations indicate that both P
_b0
and P
_b1
defects play major roles in these SiO
₂
-based devices and suggest that E' centers could play an important role