Hot-Carrier Lifetime Prediction of P-Channel MOSFETs in the Subthreshold Region

A novel hot-carrier lifetime prediction method is proposed for long-channel p-channel MOSFETs in the subthreshold region, which can be used for various driving transistor applications: organic light-emitting diode on silicon (OLEDoS), DC/DC converters, power inverters and LEDs. Owing to the extremely low subthreshold current of p-channel MOSFETs, it is challenging to detect hot-carrier-induced degradation (HCD) for > 10,000-s stress time, which makes lifetime prediction difficult. In this work, both experimental and simulation data show that the secondary hot electron energy which is the primary degradation factor of p-channel MOSFETs is proportional to the gate (VG) and drain (VD) voltage difference (VGD). Consequently, by simultaneously increasing VG and VD while preserving the VGD, the HCD lifetime prediction of p-channel MOSFETs can be successfully accelerated in the subthreshold region. For example, the HCD lifetime of long-channel p-channel MOSFETs is estimated to be 2.90×1012 s at VG = −0.7 V referring to the experimental data measured at VG = −1.5 V.