Thin Gate Oxide Reliability Study Using Nano-Scaled Stress

By taking advantages of small contact area of conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) and the powerful measurement capability of Agilent 4156C, we applied nano-scaled stresses to oxide samples and measured their breakdown characteristics. We report in this paper the application of nano-scaled stresses to thin gate oxide through CAFM probe tip for gate oxide reliability study including the post-breakdown current conduction of thin oxide, the bias-annealing effect on post-irradiated samples and the breakdown statistical distribution by using the CAFM in conjunction with the Agilent 4156C.