Transients during pre-breakdown and hard breakdown of thin gate oxides in metal-SiO2-Si capacitors

Time-resolved electrical measurements show transient phenomena occurring during degradation and intrinsic dielectric breakdown of gate oxide layers under constant voltage Fowler-Nordheim stress. We have studied such transients in metal/oxide/semiconductor (MOS) capacitors with an n(+) poly-crystalline Si/SiO2/n-type Si stack and with oxide thickness between 35 and 5.6 nm. The data adds new information concerning the intrinsic breakdown mechanism and these are shown and discussed together with the adopted measurement techniques.