Kinetics of Charge Carrier Confinement in Thin Dielectrics

The trapping of charge carriers in thin dielectric films is discussed in the present section. Mechanisms affecting electron confinement are studied in order to gain insight into the interplay between the various charged species contributing to dielectric failure (i.e., electrons, traps, and ions). A novel detection method for identifying ion drift in interconnect devices is presented. This technique is based on the change in charge fluence as a result of ionic drift during BTS. Leakage current relaxation is described as originating from the trapping of charge carriers into defects (i.e., traps and ions). A model is proposed for describing the kinetics of charge trapping at very early stages of field and temperature stress. This section concludes with a mathematical representation of electron trapping that will serve as the premise for the theory of dielectric breakdown in nano-porous films.