Degradation of low frequency noise and DC characteristics on MOSFETs and its correlation with SILC

In this work we have addressed oxide and interface degradation as the mechanisms affecting MOSFET performance in terms of transconductance (g/sub m/), saturation current (I/sub ds,/SAT) and threshold voltage (V/sub th/) before SB (soft breakdown) and HB (hard breakdown). We focused our attention on three points: 1) how interface and oxide trap generation modify the DC MOSFET characteristics; 2) the drain current noise during stress; 3) the correlation between the degradation of DC and noise characteristics and the traps commonly related to SILC (stress induced leakage current) conduction.