Dependence of short channel length on negative/positive bias temperature instability (NBTI/PBTI) for 3D FinFET devices

A comprehensive study of the negative and positive bias temperature instability(NBTI/PBTI)of 3D FinFET devices with different small channel lengths is presented.It is found while with the channel lengths shrinking from 100 nm to 30 nm,both the NBTI characteristics of p-FinFET and PBTI characteristics of n-FinFET turn better.Moreover,the channel length dependence on NBTI is more serious than that on PBTI.Through the analysis of the physical mechanism of BTI and the simulation of 3-D stress in the FinFET device,a physical mechanism of the channel length dependence on NBTI/PBTI is proposed.Both extra fluorine passivation in the corner of bulk oxide and stronger channel stress in p-FinFETs with shorter channel length causes less NBTI issue,while the extra nitrogen passivation in the corner of bulk oxide induces less PBTI degradation as the channel length decreasing for n-FinFETs.The mechanism well matches the experimental result and provides one helpful guide for the improvement of reliability issues in the advanced FinFET process.

Body Bias Dependence of Bias Temperature Instability(BTI)in Bulk FinFET Technology

In this article,the body bias dependence of the bias temperature instability(BTI)in bulk FinFETs is experimentally studied,under different test conditions for the first time.In contrast to the traditional understanding that changing body bias has little impact on BTI degradation in FinFETs due to its weak body effect,it is observed that it actually has non-negligible impacts.And a forward body bias(FBB)can reduce the BTI degradation in FinFETs,which is opposite with the trend in planar devices.The underlying physics is found due to the trade-off between two competing factors.The results are helpful for understanding and modeling reliability in FinFETs.

Recovery of PMOSFET NBTI under different conditions

Negative bias temperature instability（NBTI） has become a serious reliability issue, and the interface traps and oxide charges play an important role in the degradation process. In this paper, we study the recovery of NBTI systemically under different conditions in the P-type metal–oxide–semiconductor field effect transistor（PMOSFET）, explain the various recovery phenomena, and find the possible processes of the recovery.

Detailed study of NBTI characterization in 40-nm CMOS process using comprehensive models

The impact of negative bias temperature instability （NBTI） can be ascribed to three mutually uncorrelated factors, including hole trapping by pre-existing traps （△ VHT） in gate insulator, generated traps （△ VOT） in bulk insulator, and interface trap generation （△ VIT）. In this paper, we have experimentally investigated the NBTI characteristic for a 40-nm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor （CMOS） process. The power-law time dependence, temperature activation, and field acceleration have also been explored based on the physical reaction-diffusion model. Moreover, the end-of-life of stressed device dependent on the variation of stress field and temperature have been evaluated. With the consideration of locking effect, the recovery characteristics have been modelled and discussed.

静态随机存储器双向互锁存储单元的抗老化设计

为了延长抗辐照静态随机存储器双向互锁存储单元(DICE)电路的使用时限,得到偏置温度不稳定性效应(BTI)老化效应对DICE单元性能的具体影响,提出抗老化设计方案.通过SPICE仿真实验,分析DICE单元的老化特性,发现因老化加重的读干扰和半选择干扰是影响DICE结构的SRAM单元稳定性和寿命的主要原因.针对DICE单元抗辐照结构的特性,提出新的DICE单元读写端口结构.通过在组成读写端口的4个晶体管之间加入额外的控制晶体管,阻断了DICE单元存储节点相连的路径,消除了读干扰和半选择干扰的影响,避免了单元的读故障和半选择故障的出现.改进后的DICE单元在读状态和半选择状态时的抗辐照能力与改进前相比得到了提升.通过仿真实验,验证了改进后DICE单元的功能正确性和抗老化有效性,直接减少了DICE单元经过108 s老化后22.6%的读失效率.

Statistical static timing analysis for circuit aging prediction

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor(CMOS)aging mechanisms including bias temperature instability(BTI)pose growing concerns about circuit reliability.BTI results in threshold voltage increases on CMOS transistors,causing delay shifts and timing violations on logic circuits.The amount of degradation is dependent on the circuit workload,which increases the challenge for accurate BTI aging prediction at the design time.In this paper,a BTI prediction method for logic circuits based on statistical static timing analysis(SSTA)is proposed,especially considering the correlation between circuit workload and BTI degradation.It consists of a training phase,to discover the relationship between circuit scale and the required workload samples,and a prediction phase,to present the degradations under different workloads in Gaussian probability distributions.This method can predict the distribution of degradations with negligible errors,and identify 50%more BTI-critical paths in an affordable time,compared with conventional methods.