Mechanism and lifetime prediction method for hot-carrier-induced degradation in lateral diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors

The mechanism of hot-carrier-induced degradation in n -type lateral diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor (LDMOS) transistors is investigated. Experimental data reveal that hot-electron injection induced interface state generation in channel region is the main degradation mechanism. Since gate current (I_g) consists mainly of electron injection, I_g correlates well with device degradation. As a result, a lifetime prediction method based on I_g is presented for the purpose of projecting hot-carrier lifetime in LDMOS transistors.