The oxide traps created by hot‐hole injection in the thin gate oxide ofn‐type metal‐oxide‐semiconductor transistor are optically and electrically characterized. Photodepopulation spectroscopy is used to investigate their photodetrapping kinetics. A threshold at 3 eV is found for the photoionization cross section. The effect of the electric field on the emission is analyzed using the Poole–Frenkel model. We show that a localized energy level in the range 2–3 eV below the SiO2conduction band is associated with trap. It is spatially localized above the drain region of the transistor.