Abnormal degradation of high-voltage p-type MOSFET with n+ polycrystalline silicon gate during AC stress

We investigated the abnormal degradation of high-voltage p-type MOSFET (HV pMOSFET) under negative AC gate bias stress. In HV pMOSFET with n+ polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) gate, the abnormal degradation occurs after the gradual degradation during negative AC stress. The abnormal degradation is suppressed by changing the gate material from n+ poly-Si to p+ poly-Si, and it is caused by hot holes produced by the impact ionization near the surface when electrons move from the gate toward the gate oxide. We suggest a possible mechanism to explain the improvement of degradation by using p+ poly-Si as a gate material.