Hot carrier degradation mechanisms.

The hot-carrier induced drift is an important wear-out mechanism in IC's. With the advances in technology and increasing complexity of IC's, the MOSFETs have become increasingly susceptible to hot-carrier degradation. The study of discrete device degradation has become an important part of technology development and IC design. A good understanding of this phenomenon is necessary to minimize or possibly eliminate the occurrence of hot-carrier damage to IC's. The problem is so important that the International Reliability Physics Symposium has found it necessary to offer a tutorial on the hot-carrier damage mechanisms. The memorandum is a set of brief notes prepared to be used for the tutorial at 1986 IRPS in Anaheim, CA.