Lorentz factor determination for local electric fields in semiconductor devices utilizing hyper-thin dielectrics

The local electric field (the field that distorts, polarizes, and weakens polar molecular bonds in dielectrics) has been investigated for hyper-thin dielectrics. Hyper-thin dielectrics are currently required for advanced semiconductor devices. In the work presented, it is shown that the common practice of using a Lorentz factor of L = 1/3, to describe the local electric field in a dielectric layer, remains valid for hyper-thin dielectrics. However, at the very edge of device structures, a rise in the macroscopic/Maxwell electric field E-diel occurs and this causes a sharp rise in the effective Lorentz factor L-eff. At capacitor and transistor edges, L-eff is found to increase to a value 2/3 <L-eff<1. The increase in L-eff results in a local electric field, at device edge, that is 50%-100% greater than in the bulk of the dielectric. This increase in local electric field serves to weaken polar bonds thus making them more susceptible to breakage by standard Boltzmann and/or current-driven processes. This has important time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) implications for all electronic devices utilizing polar materials, including GaN devices that suffer from device-edge TDDB. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.