On the temperature and voltage dependence of short-term negative bias temperature stress

Article history: Received 19 June 2009 Available online 7 August 2009 0026-2714/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. A doi:10.1016/j.microrel.2009.06.040 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +43 1 58801/36050; f E-mail address: [email protected] (Ph Initial NBTI degradation is often explained by elastic hole trapping which also considerably distorts longterm measurements. In order to clarify this issue, short-term NBT stress measurements are performed using different temperatures, stress voltages, and oxide thicknesses. The data shows a clear temperature activation and a super-linear voltage dependence, thereby effectively ruling out elastic hole tunneling. Rather, our data supports an explanation based on a thermally activated hole capture mechanism. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.