Simulation of the hot-carrier degradation in short channel transistors with high-K dielectric

The degradation produced by channel hot-carrier (CHC) on short channel transistors with high-k dielectric has been analyzed. For short channel transistors (L < 0.15 mu m), the most damaging stress condition has been found to be V-G = V-D instead of the 'classical' V-G = V-D/2 determined for long channel transistors. In this work, experimentally validated simulations have been performed to demonstrate that this shift is not caused by the presence of the high-k layer but due to short channel effects. Furthermore, the CHC degradation lifetime has been evaluated, revealing larger operating voltages for high-k than for SiO2-based transistors. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.