Lifetime estimation of analog circuits from the electrical characteristics of stressed MOSFETs

In this work, the impact of dielectric degradation in the MOSFET electrical characteristics after different levels of Fowler-Nordheim (FN) stress has been studied. A decrease in I-SAT and an increase of V-T have been observed. The interface trap density has been extracted from the sub-threshold slope of I-D-V-GS curves. The results show a direct relation between the generated interfacial traps and the observed changes in saturation current and threshold voltage. The wear out effects in the devices have been extrapolated to operation voltages, pointing out that the transistors can fulfill the reliability criteria, even when working in analog applications. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.