Stress-induced leakage current in very thin dielectric layers: some limitations to reliability extrapolation modeling

This paper focuses on the stress-induced leakage current (SILC) phenomenon in 5 nm thin oxides. The statistical investigation of SILC is emphasized and it is shown that this phenomenon can be directly linked to the intrinsic properties of the SiO 2 material. Moreover, it will be pointed out that the experimentally validated SILC build-up empirical model presents some limitations when using this model for extrapolation purposes at very low injected charges and/or low current/voltage levels.