The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 20, 2011
Filed:
Jul. 21, 2009
Kok Yong Yiang, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Rick Francis, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Amit P. Marathe, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Van-hung Pham, Milpitas, CA (US);
Kok Yong Yiang, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Rick Francis, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Amit P. Marathe, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Van-Hung Pham, Milpitas, CA (US);
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc, Grand Cayman, KY;
Abstract
A time-to-breakdown for a dielectric layer in a semiconductor device is determined based upon a sudden change in capacitance. An alternating voltage, greater in magnitude than an operating voltage of the device, is applied to the semiconductor device, capacitance is measured across the dielectric layer during the application of the voltage until a sudden change in capacitance occurs, thereby indicating a breakdown in the dielectric layer, and the breakdown time is scaled to the operating voltage.