Structure and method for reliability stressing of dielectrics

摘要

The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for reliability testing of an integrated circuit. The present invention provides a test structure and method for testing gate and node dielectrics of an integrated circuit wherein a self-heating gate structure is integrated with the product structure itself. Selected conductive lines within the product structure are used as heater elements to provide temperature stressing of the integrated circuit. The localized self-heating gate structure is an integral part of the product chip. Thus, etch and deposition characteristics of the test structure are kept identical to the etch and deposition characteristics of the product itself. As low-voltage technologies make it harder to obtain significant acceleration due to voltage stressing, temperature stressing may be used instead to increase acceleration.