Water diffusion model for the enhancement of hot-carrier-induced degradation due to silicon nitride passivation in submicron MOSFET's

The enhancement of hot-carrier-induced degradation due to SiN passivation can show strong dependence on the hot-carrier hardness of MOSFETs without SiN passivation. Additional post-passivation annealing also shows the acceleration phenomenon of degradation enhancement due to SiN passivation. The hot-carrier hardness dependence and APPA effect on degradation enhancement were investigated using several samples that have different hot-carrier hardness. A newly proposed degradation enhancement model, based on water diffusion, explains well the experimental results. The solution of a one-dimensional diffusion equation that is applied to the structure of inter-metal layer and passivation in MOSFETs, supports this model rather than a common hydrogen diffusion model.