Temperature dependence of stress induced leakage current in ultra-thin oxides

In ultra-thin oxides Stress Induced Leakage Current (SILC) is measured at low oxide fields after electrical stresses [1-5]. Different current components contribute to SILC, including transient and non-reproducible ones. This work is focused on the DC component [6], which is currently attributed to an electron trap assisted tunnelling trough neutral traps, which are created by electrical stresses [1-5]. Most of the works on SILC have considered the room (or high) temperature characteristics, demonstrating the onset of recovery processes as the temperature increases. In this work we have performed new experiments at temperatures < 0 °C, in order to study the SILC dependence on measurement and stress temperature.