Abstract
Substrate hole injection experiments have been carried out to investigate hot-hole-induced damage of SiO2 and the nature of trapping characteristics of hole traps present in the oxide of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure using thin oxide p-channel MOS transistors. In contrast to the effect of hot electrons, oxide damage is somewhat less severe since no new traps were generated during hot-hole injection. Trapping phenomena are observed to be independent of the energy of injecting holes and oxide thickness, which implies identical distribution of traps in the oxide. Intrinsic hole traps are found to have retrapping capability. Detrapping of trapped holes is strongly dependent on oxide field polarity and magnitude, which is consistent with the concept of tunneling discharge, and detrapping is found to be dominant through the Si/SiO2 interface.