‘On-the-fly’ measurements of CMOS inverters performance degradation under pulsed stress

In this work, an `on-the-fly' type technique for the characterization and monitoring of the CMOS inverter degradation, simultaneously to the application of pulsed voltage stresses, is presented. This technique allows analyzing the CMOS inverter performance degradation through the inversion voltage shifts measured during the application of rapid pulses. The observed degradation of the inversion voltage is described by an analytical equation that considers only the shifts of two device parameters, threshold voltage and mobility, of both transistors of the CMOS inverter.