Superior reliability of high mobility (Si)Ge channel pMOSFETs

0167-9317/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. A http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2013.03.001 ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Franco) With a significantly reduced Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI), SiGe channel pMOSFETs promise to virtually eliminate this reliability issue for ultra-thin EOT devices. The intrinsically superior NBTI robustness of the MOS system consisting of a Ge-based channel and of a SiO2/HfO2 dielectric stack is understood in terms of a favorable energy decoupling between the SiGe channel and the gate dielectric defects. Thanks to this effect, a significantly reduced time-dependent variability of nanoscale devices is also observed. Other reliability mechanisms such as low-frequency noise, channel hot carriers, and time-dependent dielectric breakdown are shown not to be showstoppers. 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.