Mechanism of stress-induced leakage current in MOS capacitors

Stress-induced leakage current (SILC) is examined both below and above the voltage at which the preexisting Fowler-Nordheim tunneling current dominates. Based on these results, it is argued that SILC is the result of inelastic rather than elastic trap-assisted tunneling. This clarification explains the well-known thickness dependence of the SILC at low fields that has identified it as a scaling limitation for nonvolatile memory tunnel oxide. It also explains a newly observed different thickness dependence at high fields and facilitates modeling of the electric field/voltage and trap density dependencies of the SILC.