DIRECT AND FOWLER-NORDHEIM TUNNELING IN THIN GATE OXIDE MOS STRUCTURE.

Theoretical analysis and experimental measurements have been carried out on the tunneling characteristics of thin gate oxide (3. 4 nm-13. 7 nm) MOS capacitors. In the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling regime, it is theoretically found that the 2-band model yields an equivalent result as the 1-band model, i. e. , the Fowler-Nordheim equation. Constants B and A of the F-N Eq. are observed experimentally to be slightly thickness dependent. In the Direct tunneling regime, the 2-band model has been demonstrated to give a better fit to the experimental curves. Valence band electron tunneling is predicted theoretically using a 2-band model and measured experimentally as the substrate hole current in a 5. 6 nm oxide transistor.