Negative Bias-Temperature Instabilities and Low-Frequency Noise in Ge FinFETs

Abstract

Negative bias-temperature instabilities and low-frequency noise are investigated in strained Ge pMOS FinFETs with SiO2/HfO2 gate dielectrics. The extracted activation energies for NBTI in Ge pMOS FinFETs are smaller than for Si ${p}$ MOSFETs. Low-frequency noise magnitudes at lower temperatures are unaffected by negative-bias-temperature stress (NBTS), but increase significantly for temperatures above similar to 230 K. The increased noise due to NBTS is attributed primarily to the activation of oxygen vacancies and hydrogen-related defects in the SiO2 and HfO2 layers.