On the PBTI degradation of pMOSFETs and its impact on IC lifetime

Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) of pMOSFETs is nowadays the most prominent device degradation mechanism reported in the literature and a limiting factor for CMOS technology scaling. In contrast, for Positive Bias Temperature Instability (PBTI) of pMOSFET only very few publications can be found [1–4]. Most of the PBTI work is done for nMOSFETs from process nodes employing high-K dielectrics and not for pMOSFETs with silicon oxide dielectrics. Especially product related degradation based on application conditions leading to PBTI of pMOSFETs are not investigated satisfactorily. Furthermore an in-depth comparison of the impact on extrapolated product lifetime of NBTI, PBTI and the effect of NBTI & PBTI stress in sequence is missing.