On the Impact of Defects Close to the Gate Electrode on the Low-Frequency 1/f Noise

Abstract—This letter studies the impact of defects close to the gate electrode side on low-frequency 1/f noise in the drain and gate current. Defects are selectively introduced by deposi-tion of a submonolayer of HfO2 dielectric, which induce a large Fermi-level pinning on the gate. Contrary to the common belief that defects at the Si/SiO2 interface are the dominant effect on 1/f noise, defects at the interface and fluctuations in the poly-Si charge are also important. Index Terms—Fermi-level pinning, high-k gate dielectrics, 1/f noise. I