Electrothermal Effects on Hot-Carrier Reliability of FinFETs in Ring Oscillators Based on Equivalent Thermal Model

This study presents a computational analysis of electrothermal effects on hot-carrier injection (HCI) in FinFETs within a ring oscillator (RO) using an equivalent thermal model and circuit simulation. Based on transient temperature response of the 3D structure of the RO calculated by finite element method (FEM), the thermal model can be extracted. Then, combining thermal model with power obtained in a SPICE simulator, the transient temperature of the FinFETs in RO can be calculated quickly and accurately. With the transient temperature and voltage stress, the HCI induced threshold voltage drift (TVS) of FinFETs can be predicted successfully and the effect of the operating voltage of the RO on the electrothermal response and HCI of FinFET are also investigated.