The Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET) is a key component in modern microelectronics. During the last decade, device physicists, researchers and engineers have been continuously faced with new elements making the task of MOSFET characterization increasingly crucial, as well as more difficult. The progressive miniaturization of devices has caused several phenomena to emerge and modify the performance of scaled-down MOSFETs. Localized degradation induced by hot carrier injection and Random Telegraph Signal (RTS) noise generated by individual traps are examples. It was thus unavoidable to develop new models and new characterization methods, or at least adapt the existing ones to cope with the special nature of these new phenomena. This study deals with techniques which show high potential for characterization of submicron devices. Focus is placed upon the adaptation of such methods to resolve measurement problems relevant to VLSI devices and new materials, especially Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI). The book was written to provide help to device engineers and researchers to enable them cope with the challenges they face.
Without adequate device characterization, new physical phenomena and new types of defects or damage may not be well identified or dealt with, leading to an undoubted obstruction of the device development cycle.