Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) Physics, Materials and Process Issues

In this talk I will present an overview of negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) commonly observed in p-channel MOSFETs when stressed with negative gate voltages at elevated temperatures concentrating on the physics, materials, and process issues. I discuss the results of such stress on device performance and re-view interface traps and oxide charges, their origin, present understanding, and changes due to NBTI. Next I discuss the effects of varying parameters (hydrogen, nitrogen, water, fluorine, deuterium, boron, temperature, electric field, and gate length) on NBTI and conclude with the present understanding of NBTI and its minimization.

Dieter K. Schroder has worked with semiconductor material and device electrical characterization for the last 30 years. He received his education at McGill University and at the University of Illinois. He joined the Westinghouse Research Labs. in 1968 where he was engaged in research on various aspects of semiconductor devices, including MOS devices, imaging arrays, power devices, and magnetostatic waves. He spent a year at the Institute of Applied Solid State Physics in Germany during 1978. In 1981 he joined Arizona State University in the Center for Solid State Electronics Research. His current interests are semiconductor devices, defects in semiconductors, semiconductor material and device characterization, low power electronics, and device modeling. He has written two books Advanced MOS Devices and Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization, has published over 140 papers, has graduated 87 graduate students, has held many short courses and is a Life Fellow of IEEE.