Nanoscale characterization of leakage currents in ultra-thin oxide layers for microelectronics
type: Dataset
description: Miniaturization of the MOS transistor structure has led to the high thinning of the gate oxide. Hence, degradation and breakdown under electrical stress became one of the important reliability concerns of thin oxide films. The use of characterization techniques allowing to measure leakage currents with a nanometric spatial resolution has shown that breakdown phenomenon of oxides is a highly localized phenomenon. So called “hot spots”, places where the leakage current is very high for a given applied continuous voltage, can be several nanometers wide only. This illustrates why nanometric characterization methods with a nanometer range spatial resolution provide additional information compared to the classical macroscopic characterization. There are two instruments that can be used to do this job, either the Tunneling Atomic Force Microscope (TUNA) or the Conductive Atomic Force Microscope (C-AFM). TUNA which is used in our work is capable to measure very low currents ranging between 60 fA and 100 pA. Our work can be divided into two principle topics: - Electrical characterization of thin high-k oxides (LaAlO3 and Gd2O3) at the nano-scale using the Veeco Dimension 3100 where we have shown that the difference in their elaboration techniques largely influence the electrical behavior of these oxides. - Nano-scale electrical and physical characterization of thin SiO2 thermal oxides in different surrounding ambient, that is in air and under vacuum (≈ 10-6 mbar) using the Veeco E-scope microscope. The influence of the experiment surrounding ambient has been well studied where we have shown that the breakdown phenomena of thin oxide films can be highly reduced under vacuum especially in the absence of the water meniscus on the oxide’s surface under study. Using different AFM modes, it was demonstrated that the existence of the well-known hillock (protrusions) on the oxide’s surface after the application of an electrical stress is a combination of two phenomena: the real morp…
identifier: NNT: 2011ISAL0109
issued: 2026-05-06T03:45:09.876099
language: en
modified: 2026-05-06T03:45:09.876104
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD
keyword: afm---atomic-force-microscopy
keyword: afm---atomic-force-microscopy---tunnelling
keyword: couche-mince-doxyde
keyword: courant-de-fuite
keyword: courant-tunnel
keyword: electronics
keyword: electronique
keyword: hillocks
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsdoctoralthesis
keyword: leakage-current
keyword: microelectronics
keyword: microelectronique
keyword: microscopie-a-force-atomique---afm
keyword: microscopie-a-force-atomique-tunnel---tuna
keyword: mos---metal-oxide-semiconductor---component
keyword: spiotherengineering-sciences-physicsother
keyword: theses
keyword: transistor-metal-oxyde-semiconducteur---mos
keyword: tunnel-fowler-nordheim
keyword: tunnelling-current
landing page: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00952841

Nanoscale characterization of leakage currents in ultra-thin oxide layers for microelectronics
type: Distribution
format: HTML
issued: 2026-05-06T03:45:09.915020
modified: 2026-05-06T03:45:09.843341
access URL: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00952841

test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent