Electrical characterization of the soft breakdown failure mode in MgO layers
Miranda, E., O'Connor, E., Cherkaoui, K., Monaghan, S., Long, R., O'Connell, Deborah, Hurley, Paul K.ORCID: 0000-0001-5137-721X, Hughes, GregORCID: 0000-0003-1310-8961 and Casey, Patrick
(2009)
Electrical characterization of the soft breakdown failure mode in MgO layers.
Applied Physics Letters, 95
(1).
012901-1.
ISSN 0003-6951
The soft breakdown (SBD) failure mode in 20 nm thick MgO dielectric layers grown on Si substrates was investigated. We show that during a constant voltage stress, charge trapping and progressive breakdown coexist, and that the degradation dynamics is captured by a power-law time dependence. We also show that the SBD current-voltage (I-V) characteristics follow the power-law model I = aVb typical of this conduction mechanism but in a wider voltage window than the one reported in the past for SiO2. The relationship between the magnitude of the current and the normalized differential conductance was analyzed.
Item Type:
Article (Published)
Refereed:
Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:
dielectric thin films; electric breakdown; electrical conductivity; magnesium compounds;