Statistics of successive breakdown events in gate oxides

The basic statistics for devices/circuits that can tolerate several breakdown (BD) events without failure are derived. All the presented results are analytical and do not rely on the validity of any model relating breakdown to defect generation. The single requirement is the uniform and uncorrelated generation of breakdown paths. Significant lifetime improvement is anticipated for low failure percentiles and Weibull slopes close to unity, as those found in oxides with the thickness required for sub-100-nm CMOS technologies. The presented results are validated using grouping experiments.