Next: 1.4 Analysis and Comparison of Existing Physics-Based HCD Models Up: 1.3 Characteristic Features of HCD Previous: 1.3.5 Interface, Border and Oxide Traps
To make the picture complete one should pay attention to the temperature behavior of HCD. Contrary to NBTI, which is made more severe at higher temperatures (see [137,138]), hot-carrier induced damage usually becomes less pronounced at elevated temperatures [68,69,70,71,72,73]. Note that this traditional tendency is typical only for (relatively) long-channel devices while for ultra-scaled MOSFETs HCD becomes more significant at higher temperatures due to the dominant role of electron-electron scattering and its impact on the carrier distribution function [74,75,76,41]. The essential features of hot-carrier induced degradation unequivocally demonstrate that the matter is controlled by the carrier distribution function. The DF allows us to judge how efficiently the carriers interact with the bonds or - in other words - how strong the bond dissociation reactions are. As a result, a comprehensive physics-based HCD model is expected to rely on consistent consideration of the microscopic mechanisms of defect creation and the carrier DF. In turn, for the calculation of the carrier distribution function a carrier transport module must be incorporated into the model.