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US 6,602,729 B2Granted
Pulse voltage breakdown (VBD) technique for inline gate oxide reliability monitoring
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorChaun Lin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed is a method of testing a dielectric, comprising setting a reference current below a breakdown current of the dielectric, applying a stress voltage to the dielectric below a breakdown voltage of the dielectric and measuring a stress current resulting therefrom, incrementally increasing said stress voltage until said measured stress current exceeds said reference current.
Claims10
A method of testing a dielectric, comprising:
- setting a reference current below a breakdown current of the dielectric and higher than an expected base current of the dielectric;
- applying a stress voltage to the dielectric below a breakdown voltage of the dielectric and measuring a stress current resulting therefrom;
- incrementally increasing said stress voltage until said measured stress current exceeds said reference current;
- measuring a base current of the dielectric after said measured stress current exceeds said reference current;
- and
- incrementally increasing said stress voltage until said measured base current indicates said stress voltage equals or exceeds said breakdown voltage.
3 more elements
A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for testing a dielectric, said method comprising:
- setting a reference current below a breakdown current of the dielectric and higher than an expected base current of the dielectric;
- applying a stress voltage to the dielectric below a breakdown voltage of the dielectric and measuring a stress current resulting therefrom;
- incrementally increasing said stress voltage until said measured stress current exceeds said reference current;
- measuring a base current of the dielectric after said measured stress current exceeds said reference current;
- and
- incrementally increasing said stress voltage until said measured base current indicates said stress voltage equals or exceeds said breakdown voltage.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.