Gate Oxide Reliability Projection to the Sub-2nm Regime

As the silicon industry moves forward, smaller devices with lower operating voltage and thinner gate oxides are being manufactured. To investigate the limit below the which it will be impossible for the gate oxide layer to have sufficient intrinsic reliability, we have studied ultra-thin oxides below previous projected limit of 2.2-2.6nm. With a soft breakdown criterion, and by looking at the voltage scaling, statistics, and temperature scaling of reliability projection, we will demonstrate that the 1.6nm oxide has sufficient intrinsic reliability. We will also look at the effect of soft breakdown on device operation in order to see if the reliability projection can be further improved.