Analysis of experimental current oscillations in MOS structures using a semi-empirical tunneling model

A semi-empirical model has recently been proposed to simulate the tunneling characteristics of very thin or thick thermal oxides used as a gate insulator in metal-oxide-semiconductor structures. Its salient feature is a constant wave number in the insulator gap combined with an energy dependent attenuation factor for the direct tunneling probability. The tunneling analysis was based on the WKB approximation. In order to incorporate the oscillatory behavior of the tunneling current observed experimentally in the Fowler-Nordheim injection regime, which was disregarded before, here we use the transfer matrix method for calculating the transmission probability. The parameter set involved in the model is extracted from the experimental current vs voltage curves and from its logarithmic derivatives. The obtained values are in excellent agreement with those generally accepted for the MOS system. It is shown in this work that the resonant behavior is totally consistent with the principles on which the former model was constructed. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.