Observation of MOSFET degradation due to electrical stressing through gate-to-source and gate-to-drain capacitance measurement

The authors present observations of changes in the gate capacitances of a MOSFET as a result of hot-carrier stressing and propose capacitance measurement as a method for evaluation of trapped charge. The effect of hot-carrier stressing on 2-μm effective channel length n-channel MOSFETs was monitored by measuring the gate-to-source capacitance and the gate-to drain capacitance. It was found that after electrically stressing a junction of the transistor, capacitances associated with the stressed junction were reduced, whereas the capacitances of the unstressed junction were found to have increased. The observation is explained in terms of the change in channel potential near the stressed junction due to negative trapped charge.