Modelling the hot-carrier induced degradation in the subthreshold characteristics of submicrometer LDD PMOSFETs

Hot-carrier injection is observed to increasingly degrade the subthreshold characteristics with the scaling of LDD PMOSFETs. A physical subthreshold current model is applied to the fresh and hot-carrier stressed submicrometer channel length devices. The generated interface traps and channel length reduction are subsequently extracted. An empirical model is developed to characterize the degradation parameters as a function of stress time and channel length. With the use of this model, we can determine the degradation parameters and hence predict the minimum allowable channel length (for a certain percentage of degradation and lifetime) that is applicable for a specific technology.