Catching the Missing EM Consequence in Soft Breakdown Reliability in Advanced FinFETs: Impacts of Self-heating, On-State TDDB, and Layout Dependence.

For the first time, the on-state (V gs >0, V ds > 0) time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) in FinFET technology is systematically studied. The assumption that the kinetics of soft breakdown (SBD) would remain the same and have no effect on electromigration (EM) is not true using advanced physical characterization techniques (TEM/EDX/EELS), as well as electrical-statistical tests and multiphysics simulations. By catching the missing EM consequence in SBD, the impacts of self-heating and an EM-aware layout topology is studied. Our study provide solid evidence of the SBD-induced EM, which is vital for the accurate prediction and boosting circuit reliability of advanced FinFETs and other multiple-gate device technology.