Parasitic MOSFET degradation induced by Fowler-Nordheim injection

Abstract
Degradation induced by Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) electron injection is observed in a parasitic MOS transistor associated with a MOS transistor's edge region. A bump appears in the subthreshold region of both an n-channel transistor after positive gate biased F-N injection and a p-channel transistor after negative gate biased F-N injection. It is found that the effective gate-oxide thickness of a parasitic transistor is 30 nm. As thinner gate oxide is used, the amount of the charge injected into the gate oxide may increase due to increased electric fields.