The effect of aluminum gate thickness on charge trapping in metal-oxide-semiconductor devices

Abstract

Metal‐oxide‐semiconductor devices with variable aluminum gate thickness were electrically stressed by constant‐current Fowler–Nordheim tunneling, until intrinsic oxide breakdown was achieved. I‐V and C‐V measurements were used to detect oxide‐bulk trapping and interface‐state generation rates during the stressing process. It was found that these rates were affected by the Al thickness only in the initial stages of the stressing, and that these rates are not a simple monotonic function of the Al gate thickness, but reach their maximum value between 500 and 1000 Å of Al thickness.