Low Frequency Noise Degradation in 45 nm High-k nMOSFETs due to Hot Carrier and Constant Voltage Stress

Hafnium based materials are the leading candidates to replace conventional SiON as the gate dielectric in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor devices. Hot carrier and constant voltage stress induced 1/f noise behavior is presented for HfSiON nMOSFETs. The additional low-frequency noise introduced through stressing was evaluated on nMOSFETs with TiN metal gate and HfSiON gate dielectric. Nitridation of HfSiO was achieved either by high temperature thermal nitridation or by relatively lower temperature plasma nitridation. The difference in stress induced noise behavior is attributed to the nitrogen profile across high-k/Si interface and bulk of high-k gate oxide caused by different nitridation techniques.