FAILURE MECHANISMS AT SURFACES AND INTERFACES.
Abstract
A study of the aging and failure characteristics of thin film field effect triodes was carried out. Techniques for applying stress to the sample devices under controlled conditions were developed and the resulting changes of the characteristics were measured. Samples stored under dry argon at 30C remained stable after 1 year. An increase of the humidity to 30% caused a decrease of the threshold voltage. During storage at a constant temperature from 50C to 122C, the threshold voltage increased reaching a stable value within a few days. During d.c. electrical stress the threshold voltage either decreased or increased reaching a stable value at constant gate voltage after a few hundred hours. These different failure modes under electrical stress could be correlated with differences in the slow relaxation characteristic of the field effect conductivity which in turn was traced to the treatment of the semiconductor surface during device fabrication. The threshold voltage was the only parameter which appeared to be changing appreciably indicating that the changes were occurring at the semiconductor-insulator interface. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0613036
Entities
People
- D. L. Stockman
- K. K. Reinhartz
- V. A. Russell
- W. J. Van Der Grinten
- W. L. Willis
Organizations
- General Electric