Session 16 – TAPA 3

Noise Phenomena

Thursday, June 14, 8:05 a.m.

Chairs: C. Mazure, SOITEC Group

S.S. Chung, Nat’l Chiao Tung Univ.

16.1 - 8:05 a.m.

Voltage and Temperature Dependence of Random Telegraph Noise in Highly Scaled HKMG ETSOI nFETs and its Impact on Logic Delay Uncertainty, H. Miki, M. Yamaoka, D.J. Frank*, K. Cheng*, D.-G. Park*, E. Leobandung*, K.Torii**, Hitachi America, Ltd., IBM Corp, **Hitachi Ltd.

This paper analyzes the extensive variability of random telegraph noise (RTN) responses to gate voltage and temperature in undoped nanoscale nFETs. Using comprehensive RTN measurements to extract the response parameters of >600 traps, we show that the RTN can induce delay uncertainty in dense low power (i.e., narrow devices and low VDD) 14-nm technology that may exceed 50% of the nominal delay.

16.2 - 8:30 a.m.

New Insights into AC RTN in Scaled High-k/Metal-Gate MOSFETs Under Digital Circuit Operations, J. Zou, R. Wang, N. Gong, R. Huang, X. Xu, J. Ou, C. Liu, J. Wang*, J. Liu*, J. Wu*, S. Yu*, P. Ren, H. Wu*, S.-W. Lee*, Y. Wang, Peking University, *SMIC

Since devices actually operate under AC signals in digital circuits, it is more informative to study random telegraph noise (RTN) at dynamic AC biases than at constant DC voltages. We found that the AC RTN statistics largely deviates from traditional DC RTN, in terms of different distribution functions and the strong dependence on AC signal frequency, which directly impacts on the accurate prediction of circuit stability and variability. The AC RTN characteristics in high-k/metal-gate FETs are different from that in SiON FETs, and both of which cannot be described by classical RTN theory. A physical model based on quantum mechanics is proposed, which successfully explains the new observations of AC RTN. It is also demonstrated that, if using DC RTN statistics instead of AC RTN, a large error on the read failure probability in ultra-scaled SRAM cells will occur.

16.3 - 8:55 a.m.

Comprehensive Investigations on Neutral and Attractive Traps in Random Telegraph Signal Noise Phenomena using (100)- and (110)-Orientated CMOSFETs, J. Chen, I. Hirano, K. Tatsumura, Y. Mitani, Toshiba Corporation

Neutral traps and attractive traps in random telegraph Noise(RTN) on both (100)- and (110)-orientated CMOSFETs are well distinguished and systematically studied for the first time, including both electron and hole traps. It is found that neutral traps energy distributions are higher than attractive traps and, most importantly, neutral traps caused much larger threshold voltage shifts (ΔVth_RTN) than attractive traps do, especially in (110)-nMOSFETs. Furthermore, based on obtained ΔVth_RTN in CMOSFETs of various orientation surfaces, 3D FinFET structure optimizations are discussed in view of ΔVth_RTN suppression.

16.4 - 9:20 a.m.

Continuous Characterization of MOSFET From Low-Frequency Noise to Thermal Noise Using a Novel Measurement System up to 100 MHz, K. Ohmori, R. Hasunuma, W. Feng, K. Yamada, University of Tsukuba

We have developed a novel system for characterizing higher-frequency noise properties of MOSFETs under DC-biases up to 100 MHz. A low-noise amplifier (LNA) was mounted on a unique micro probe-card so that the signal from DUT (on a wafer) is captured with lesser losses. Using this new approach, we have successfully demonstrated the transition of low-frequency (LF) noise to high-frequency (HF) noise, such as thermal noise. In addition, the change in the factors of noise results in lowing the standard variation of noise in a HF region, where intrinsic phenomena derived from the channel conductance play a key roll.