Abstract
The evolution of the electrical properties of HfO2/SiO 2/Si dielectric stacks under electrical stress has been investigated using atomic force microscope-based techniques. The current through the grain boundaries (GBs), which is found to be higher than thorough the grains, is correlated to a higher density of positively charged defects at the GBs. Electrical stress produces different degradation kinetics in the grains and GBs, with a much shorter time to breakdown in the latter, indicating that GBs facilitate dielectric breakdown in high-k gate stacks. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.
Original language | English (US) |
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Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
Volume | 99 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 5 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Generated from Scopus record by KAUST IRTS on 2021-03-16ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)