Scaling of CMOS technologies is behind the large improvement of electronic systems performance during the last decades. However, with device dimensions decrease, new problems appear that must be solved in order to further improve the performance of electronic systems. Nowadays, the presence of different stochastic effects that introduce variability and unreliability on the highly scaled MOSFETs, such as Random Telegraph Noise (RTN), Bias Temperature Instability (BTI) or Hot Carriers Injection (HCI), is one of the major causes of device mismatch and unpredictability. In order to address these problems, in this thesis, advanced device characterization methodologies are designed, developed and tested. The new technique presented here reduces the required characterization time of hundreds of devices by two or three orders of magnitude, when compared to that needed by conventional procedures. Moreover, the technique has been successfully applied to the characterization of the RTN, BTI and HCI effects in advanced electronic devices, providing a unified description of the three main causes of device variability and unreliability. The gained knowledge on the time-dependent variability of MOSFETs will contribute to the improvement of the reliability of present and future CMOS technologies.
Advanced characterization methodologies of the time dependent variability in CMOS technologies
Pedreira Rincon, G. (Author). 19 Jun 2023
Student thesis: Doctoral thesis
Student thesis: Doctoral thesis