Antenna effect

The antenna effect, more formally plasma induced gate oxide damage, is an effect that can potentially cause yield and reliability problems during the manufacture of MOS integrated circuits.

Figure 1(a) shows a side view of a typical net in an integrated circuit.

Each net will include at least one driver, which must contain a source or drain diffusion (in newer technology implantation is used), and at least one receiver, which will consist of a gate electrode over a thin gate dielectric (see Figure 2 for a detailed view of a MOS transistor).

So if a charge is added in any way to the metal 1 shape (as shown by the lightning bolt), it can rise to the level of breaking down the gate oxide.

Leaky gate oxides, although bad for power dissipation, are good for avoiding damage from the antenna effect.

Figure 1: Illustration of the cause of antenna effect. M1 and M2 are the first two metal interconnect layers.
Figure 2. Diagram of a MOSFET , showing source/drain implant and gate dielectric.
Figure 3: Illustration of three possible fixes to an antenna violation.