The stress effect of SiGe pMOSFETs has been investigated to understand the electrical properties of devices fabricated on the Si bulk and PD SOI substrates. A comparison of the drain saturation current (I-D,I-sat) and maximum transconductance (g(m,max)) in both the SiGe bulk and the SiGe PD SOI devices clearly shows that the SiGe PD SOI is more immune from hot-carriers than the SiGe bulk. The stress-induced leakage current (SILC) is hardly detectable in ultra-thin oxide, because the increasing contribution of direct tunneling is comparable to the trap-assisted component. The SiGe PD SOI revealed degraded properties being mainly associated with the detrimental silicon -oxide interface states of the SOI structure. Published by Elsevier B. V.