Degradation of Electrical Parameters of Power Semiconductor Devices – Process Influences and Modeling

Chapter 8 Conclusions and Outlook

In the present thesis the degradation mechanisms in silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) based MOSFETs are investigated with an emphasis on the bias temperature instability (BTI). A unique research approach is the application of an on-chip heating structure to temperatures far above conventionally accessible ranges. The fast and reliable temperature switches possible with the poly-heater allow separating the impact of temperature on the bias stress from the subsequent recovery. This approach reveals that the degradation a device experiences under use conditions during its lifetime activates only the low energy fraction of a broad distribution of precursor defects. A main result of the present thesis is the measurement of the normal distribution of activation energies for the electrical activation of the precursor defects responsible for BTI. This normal distribution is presumably due to variations in the atomic compositions of the individual defect sites because of the amorphous structure of the thermally grown silicon dioxide (SiO2 ).

Further results include a detailed assessment of the influence of the bias polarity on BTI, the investigation of the influence of process adjustments on the reliability of MOSFETs and the peculiarities regarding MOSFETs based on SiC instead of Si.

Although considerable progress in the understanding of the aforementioned topics could be accomplished, large room for improvement is left. Major points are the following:

• • The determination of the distribution of activation energies for the charging of precursor has been carried out for a few representative devices with thermally grown SiO2 . The method is in principle applicable to every MOS system with different dielectric layers. However, the poly-heater needs to be appropriately designed to allow for switches to very high temperatures. Such test structures were not available for this thesis which caused the lack of corresponding data for different technologies.

• • The microscopic composition of the precursor defect responsible for BTI is still largely debated. The investigations towards the impact of hydrogen on BTI presented in this thesis do not unambiguously identify the type of defect. The answer to this question may not be found with electrical measurements alone.

• • The treatment of charge pumping (CP) for SiC based MOSFETs merits a detailed comparison to the results of other methods.

• • The continuing analysis of the exact difference for Si and SiC based MOSFETs regarding the investigated degradation mechanisms implies manifold output of utmost importance for the development of reliable power MOSFETs based on SiC.

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Own Publications

• [Aic+12] T. Aichinger et al. “Evidence for Pb center-hydrogen complexes after subjecting PMOS devices to NBTI stress - a combined DCIV/SDR study.” In: IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium. 2012, XT.2.1–XT.2.6.

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• [Gra+11a] T. Grasser et al. “Analytic modeling of the bias temperature instability using capture/emission time maps.” In: IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting. 2011, pp. 27.4.1–27.4.4.

• [Gra+11c] T. Grasser et al. “The ‘permanent’ component of NBTI: composition and annealing.” In: IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium. 2011, pp. 605–613.

• [Gra+13b] T. Grasser et al. “Hydrogen-related volatile defects as the possible cause for the recoverable component of NBTI.” In: IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting. Washington, USA, 2013.

• [Gru+12] G. Gruber et al. “An extended EDMR setup for SiC defect characterization.” In: Materials Science Forum 740-742 (2012), pp. 365–368.

• [K+̈11] H. Köck et al. “Design of a test chip with small embedded temperature sensor structures realized in a common-drain power trench technology.” In: IEEE International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures. 2011, pp. 176–181.

• [Lag+12] P. Lagger et al. “Towards understanding the origin of threshold voltage instability of AlGaN/GaN MIS-HEMTs.” In: IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting. 2012, pp. 13.1.1–13.1.4.

• [Lag+13a] P. Lagger et al. “New insights on forward gate bias induced threshold voltage instabilities of GaN-based MIS-HEMTs.” English. In: Workshop on Compound Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Circuits. Warnemuende, Germany, 2013.

• [Lag+13b] P. Lagger et al. “Very fast dynamics of threshold voltage drifts in GaN based MIS-HEMTs.” In: IEEE Electron Device Letters 34 (2013), pp. 1112–1114.

• [PG13a] G. Pobegen and T. Grasser. “Efficient characterization of threshold voltage instabilities in SiC nMOSFETs using the concept of capture-emission-time maps.” In: Materials Science Forum 740-742 (2013), pp. 757–760.

• [PG13b] G. Pobegen and T. Grasser. “On the distribution of NBTI time constants on a long, temperature accelerated time scale.” In: IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices 60.7 (2013), pp. 2148–2155.

• [PNG12] G. Pobegen, M. Nelhiebel, and T. Grasser. “Recent results concerning the influence of hydrogen on the bias temperature instability.” In: IEEE International Integrated Reliability Workshop. 2012, pp. 54–58.

• [PNG13] G. Pobegen, M. Nelhiebel, and T. Grasser. “Detrimental impact of hydrogen passivation on NBTI and HC degradation.” In: IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium. 2013, XT.10.1–XT.10.6.

• [Pob10] G. Pobegen. “Advanced electrical characterization of NBTI induced gate oxide defects.” Master thesis. Graz University of Technology, Institute of Solid State Physics, 2010.

• [Pob+10] G. Pobegen et al. “Dependence of the negative bias temperature instability on the gate oxide thickness.” In: IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium. 2010, pp. 1073–1077.

• [Pob+11a] G. Pobegen et al. “Impact of gate poly doping and oxide thickness on the N- and PBTI in MOSFETs.” In: Microelectronics Reliability 51.9-11 (2011), pp. 1530–1534.

• [Pob+11b] G. Pobegen et al. “Understanding temperature acceleration for NBTI.” In: IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting. 2011, pp. 27.3.1–27.3.4.

• [Pob+13] G. Pobegen et al. “Observation of normally distributed energies for interface trap recovery after hot carrier degradation.” In: IEEE Electron Device Letters 34 (2013), pp. 939–941.

• [Pob+14] G. Pobegen et al. “Impact of hot carrier degradation and positive bias stress on lateral 4H-SiC nMOSFETs.” In: Materials Science Forum 778-780 (2014), pp. 959–962.

• [SPN12] R. Stradiotto, G. Pobegen, and M. Nelhiebel. “Impact of copper and aluminum power metallization on the negative bias temperature instability.” In: IEEE International Integrated Reliability Workshop. 2012, pp. 65–69.

Acronyms

1D one-dimensional.

2D two-dimensional.

3D three-dimensional.

4H-SiC four layer hexagonal SiC.

6H-SiC six layer hexagonal SiC.

AG Aktiengesellschaft (german, incorporated company).

Al aluminium.

Ansys analysis system.

B boron.

BEOL back end of line.

BTI bias temperature instability.

BTS bias temperature stress.

C carbon.

CET capture-emission time.

cf. confer (latin, read as compare).

CMOS complementary MOS.

CP charge pumping.

Cu copper.

CV capacitance voltage.

DCIV direct current–current voltage.

DUT device under test.

E′ center dangling bond on a Si atom bonded to three O atoms within the SiO2 .

e.g. exemplī grātiā (latin, read as for example).

EOT SiO2 equivalent oxide thickness, EOT = εSiO2 /Cox .

EPR electron paramagnetic resonance.

ESR electron spin resonance.

FEM finite element method.

Fig. Figure.

GaN gallium nitride.

H neutral hydrogen atom.

H+ positively charged hydrogen ion.

H2 molecular hydrogen.

H2 O water.

HCD hot carrier degradation.

HCS hot carrier stress.

HDL Harry–Diamond–Laboratories.

HPSMU high power SMU.

ID VG drain current–gate voltage.

i.e. id est (latin, read as that is to say).

ILD inter level dielectric.

KAI Kompetenzzentrum für Automobil- und Industrieelektronik GmbH (german, competence center for automotive and industrial electronics limited liability company).

lin linear.

LPCVD low-pressure chemical vapor deposition.

MOS metal oxide semiconductor.

MOSCAP MOS capacitor.

MOSFET MOS field effect transistor.

MSM measurement–stress–measurement.

N nitrogen.

N2 molecular N.

NBTI negative BTI.

NBTS negative BTS.

NH3 ammonia.

nMOSFET n-channel MOSFET.

O oxygen.

OTF on-the-fly.

P permanent component.

Pb center dangling bond on a Si atom at the Si-SiO2 interface.

Pb0 center first Pb center variant at the (100)Si-SiO2 interface.

Pb1 center second Pb center variant at the (100)Si-SiO2 interface.

PbH H passivated Pb center.

PBTI positive BTI.

PBTS positive BTS.

PhD Doctor of Philosophy.

pMOSFET p-channel MOSFET.

poly polycrystalline silicon.

R recoverable component.

RD reaction–diffusion.

sat saturation.

Si silicon.

SiC silicon carbide.

Si–H H passivated silicon dangling bond.

SiH4 silane.

SiN silicon nitride.

SiO2 silicon dioxide.

SiON silicon oxynitride.

SMU source measurement unit.

SRH Shockley–Read–Hall.

TCAD technology computer aided design.

TDDB time dependent dielectric breakdown.

TDDS time dependent defect spectroscopy.

Ti titanium.

TU Vienna Vienna University of Technology.

Symbol list

(cm²) Effective area of a MOS structure or MOSFET.

(F/cm²) Oxide capacitance.

(1/(cm² eV)) Density of interface traps.

(cm) Effective oxide thickness.

(eV) Activation energy in an Arrhenius equation.

(eV) Conduction band edge energy.

(eV) Electrical active energy region within the band gap during CP.

(eV) Fermi level energy.

(eV) Band gap energy.

(eV) Energy level of the intrinsic semiconductor.

(V/cm) Electric field in the oxide.

(eV) Energy level of an interface trap.

(eV) Valence band edge energy.

(F/cm) Vacuum permittivity ε0 = 8.854 188 × 10⁻¹⁴  ; F/cm [SN06].

(F/cm) Permittivity of SiO2 εSiO2 = 3.9 × ε0 = 34.531 333 2 × 10⁻¹⁴  ; F/cm [SN06].

(Hz) AC signal frequency.

(A) Current at the bulk connection of a MOSFET.

(A) Charge pumping current.

(A) Change of the drain current of a MOSFET.

(A) Combined current at the source and drain of a MOSFET.

(A) Substrate current of a lateral MOSFET measured at the backside of the wafer.

(1/s) Frequency factor in the distributed activation energy model.

(eV/°C) Boltzmann constant kB = 8.6174 × 10⁻⁵  ; eV/°C [SN06].

(A/V) Mobility of a MOSFET.

(1/cm³) Free electron density.

(1/cm³) Effective density of states in the conduction band.

(1/cm²) Number of charges pumped per cycle in an CP measurement.

(1/cm³) Intrinsic carrier density.

(W) Electrical power supplied to the poly-heater.

(C) Elementary charge 1.602 18 × 10⁻¹⁹ C [SN06].

(°C/W) Apparent thermal resistance.

(°C/W) Apparent thermal resistance of the field oxide between the poly-heater and the device.

(°C/W) Apparent thermal resistance of the substrate.

(ns/V) Rising or falling slope of trapezoidal pulse.

(cm²) Capture cross section.

(°C,K) Temperature.

(s) Time.

(°C) Temperature of the thermo chuck.

(°C) Estimated temperature of the device under test.

(s) Emission time of a single emission event of a single defect.

(s) Fall time of a trapezoidal pulse.

(°C) Temperature of the poly-heater wires measured by the change of its resistance.

(s) Rise time of a trapezoidal pulse.

(°C) Recovery temperature after BTS.

(s) Time since the termination of the stress.

(°C) Stress temperature during BTS.

(s) Stress duration.

(s) Emission/capture time constant.

(s) Constant scaling factor in the temperature-time approach.

(s) Capture time constant of a single defect.

(s) Emission time constant of a single defect.

(s) Abstract temperature-time following an Arrhenius-like temperature dependence of defect time constants.

(V) Voltage applied to the drain of a MOSFET with respect to the source.

(V) Voltage at which the energy band edges in the semiconductor are not bended.

(V) Potential difference between the gate contact and the bulk of the semiconductor in MOS structures and between the gate and the source in MOSFETs.

(V) Value of the bias applied to the gate during recovery after BTS.

(V) Value of the stress bias applied to the gate during BTS.

(V) Change of the threshold voltage.

(cm/s) Thermal drift velocity.

(V) Maximum achievable threshold voltage drift.

(V) Normalized change of the threshold voltage considering the influence of the oxide thickness.