Mechanisms of heavy-ion induced gate rupture in thin oxides

Single event gate rupture (SEGR) is a catastrophic failure mode that occurs in dielectric materials that are struck by energetic heavy ions while biased under a high electric field condition. SEGR can reduce the critical electric field to breakdown to less than half the value observed in normal voltage ramp reliability tests. As electric fields in gate oxides increase to greater than 5 MV/cm in advanced MOS technologies, the impact of SEGR on the reliability of space based electronics must be assessed. In this summary, the authors explore the nature of SEGR in oxides with thickness from 7 nm to less than 5 nm, where soft breakdown is often observed during traditional reliability tests. They discuss the possible connection between the present understanding of SEGR and voltage stress breakdown models