Giant isotope effect in hot electron degradation of metal oxide silicon devices

A giant isotope effect of hot electron degradation was found by annealing and passivating integrated circuits of recent complementary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) technology with deuterium instead of hydrogen. In this paper, we summarize our experience and present new results of secondary ion mass spectroscopy that correlate deuterium accumulation with reduced hot electron degradation. We also present a first account of the physical theory of this effect with a view on engineering application and point toward rules of current and voltage scaling as obtained from this theory.