Communications of the ACM
NIST, Collaborators Develop Sensitive Way of Detecting Transistor Defects
By monitoring the current at the drain while varying the gate voltage, researchers can accurately determine the number of defects from the change in the current.
Credit: Sean Kelley/NIST
Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology and Pennsylvania State University have developed a sensitive new model for detecting and counting transistor defects.
The researchers placed a transistor into bipolar amplification mode by applying a voltage to the source and gate, to produce decreasing concentrations of electrons across the channel and rendering the source-to-drain current sensitive to interface defects.
Monitoring current at the drain while varying gate voltage enabled an accurate count of defects from the drop in current.
Markus Kuhn at X-ray technology developer Rigaku said, "This technique can provide unique insight into the presence of these destabilizing transistor defects and a path to mechanistic understanding of their formation. With such knowledge, there would be greater opportunity to control and reduce them in order to improve transistor performance and reliability."
From NIST News
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