In-Situ Monitoring of Self-Heating Effect in Aggressively Scaled FinFETs and Its Quantitative Impact on Hot Carrier Degradation Under Dynamic Circuit Operation

Self-heating effect (SHE) in aggressively scaled SOI FinFETs is experimentally and quantitatively investigated by utilizing a sub-nanosecond (ns) characterization technique. A 3D mapping of the channel temperature rise is obtained under different heating (the transistor is turned ON with a current flowing through the channel) and cooling (the transistor is turned OFF) time ranging from 500 ps to 10 μs. It is observed that SHE could be alleviated or almost totally suppressed when the heating time is small enough and the cooling time is reasonably long. Furthermore, for the first time, the real-time channel temperature is electrically monitored with a sub-nanosecond resolution during the whole stress phase. Thus, the hot carrier degradation (HCD) lifetime can be precisely projected no matter SHE exists or not during the stress phases of HCD stress. In addition, the impact of SHE during HCI stress is also simulated in the real digital circuit applications.