Temperature Dependence of Fowler-Nordheim Injection from Accumulated n-type Silicon into Silicon Dioxide

The temperature dependence of the Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) injection of electrons from accumulated n-Si to SiO2 is analyzed. The F-N current-voltage characteristics of thin-oxide (8.5 nm) 〈100〉-Si(n)/SiO2/poly-Si(n+) MOS capacitors have been measured at different temperatures ranging from 90 to 473 K. The obtained results are explained treating the accumulation layer quantum-mechanically, i.e., taking into account the injection of electrons from quantized energy subbands. In order to facilitate the use of the presented results in compact device simulators, simple analytical expressions which give the F-N current as a function of temperature have been derived from our self-consistent quantum-mechanical calculations. © 1993 IEEE