Neutral electron trap generation and hole trapping in thin oxides under electrostatic discharge stress

Abstract

Neutral electron trap generation and hole trapping under electrostatic discharge (ESD) stressing of thin oxides are investigated. The results show that the number of neutral electron traps generated by the ESD stress has an empirical power-law relation to the charge injected during ESD stress. Hole trapping is also shown to be linearly related to neutral electron trap generation, the slope of the straight line in a plot of the two quantities against each other being close to unity. This suggests that the hole traps and neutral electron traps originate from the same mechanism under ESD stress.