Plasma charging damage in deep-submicron CMOS technology and beyond

Plasma charging damage in CMOS technology is reviewed. The gate-oxide thickness dependent sensitivity to charging damage is examined. Ultra thin gate-oxide can tolerate low to moderate charging stress at room temperature better than thicker oxide, but not at elevated temperature. When the charging stress level is high, gate-oxide reliability degradation will result regardless the stress temperature. When high-k dielectric replaces SiO/sub 2/ as gate-dielectric, plasma charging damage should become very severe again.