A comparative study of depth profiling of interface states using charge pumping and low frequency noise measurement in SiO2/HfO2 gate stack nMOSFETs

Charge pumping and low frequency noise measurements for depth profiling have been studied systematically using a set of gate stacks with various combinations of IL and HfO2 thicknesses. The distribution of generated traps after HCI and PBTI stress was also investigated. The drain-current power spectral density made up all of the traps of IL in 0 < z < TIL and the traps of HfO2 in TIL < z < THK. The traps near the Si/SiO2 interface dominated the 1/f noise at higher frequencies, which is common in SiO2 dielectrics. For the HfO2/SiO2 gate stack, however, the magnitude of the 1/f noise did not significantly change after HCI and PBTI because of more traps in the bulk HfO2 film than at the bottom of the interface.