Curing of Hot-Carrier Induced Damage by Gate-Induced Drain Leakage Current in Gate-All-Around FETs

Gate oxide aging in a gate-all-around (GAA) FET fabricated on a bulk substrate was successfully cured by gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) current. High level of GIDL current flows during the off-state cures the gate oxide aging by hot-carrier injection (HCI). The recovery behaviors were analyzed by tracing changes in the device parameters. Especially, it was found that the curing was not associated with the electric field or created holes under the bias conditions for GIDL, but was associated with the elevated temperature. The GIDL recovery requires neither extra apparatus for Joule heating nor circuit modification. This work can be useful for various FETs which have high off-state current.