Performance Enhancement of Electrically Programmable Fuse with Stress Buffer Oxide Layer

摘要

This paper presents performance enhancement of an electrically programmable fuse with a stress buffer layer. The fuses without and with a stress buffer layer before the silicon nitride capping layer were fabricated using compatible fabrication processes combined with single-stress-liner technology for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors, to obtain electrical and physical characteristics of post-programmed fuses discussed herein. The insertion of a stress buffer layer enhanced electromi-gration and programmed resistance distribution at the lower programming current and caused void nucleation at higher currents, leading to higher programmed resistance and reliable programmed electrical-fuse functionality. According to electrical and physical analysis, the stress buffer layer could make fuse under compressive-stress-like environment, which was helpful in improving fuse characteristics. A minimum programming current of 5 mA, with the ratio of programmed and unpro-grammed fuse resistances 10(2) was achieved. Moreover, a fuse with a stress buffer oxide layer was capable of operating under wide current injections, thereby rendering it a promising mechanism for low-voltage device applications.