Defects and instabilities in Hf-dielectric/SiON stacks (Invited Paper)

In this work, a review on the recent progress in understanding defects and instabilities in Hf-dielectric/SiON stacks will be given for both nMOSFETs and pMOSFETs. The key issues addressed for nMOSFETs include the capture cross section of electron traps, their location and justification of the model used. For pMOSFETs, a framework will be proposed for the defects and then used to interpret the anomalous NBTI kinetics. The dominant dielectric layer for positive charging will be identified. Wherever possible, the classical SiO2 will be used as a benchmark and the similarity and difference between the stack and SiO2 will be highlighted. It will be shown that the stack behaves like a degraded SiO2.