OXIDE-VOLTAGE AND ITS POLARITY DEPENDENCE OF INTERFACE-STATE-GENERATION EFFICIENCY IN (100)N-SI METAL OXIDE/SEMICONDUCTOR CAPACITORS/

The polarity dependence of Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) tunnelling current st ress on the interface-state-generation efficiency in (100) n-type Si m etal/oxide/semiconductor (MOS) capacitors has been investigated as a f unction of oxide voltage using the ac conductance method. The interfac e-state-generation efficiency eta(gen) is larger when the F-N tunnelli ng electrons are injected from the gate (gate emission) than when they are injected from the substrate (substrate emission) by about two ord ers of magnitude over the whole range of the oxide voltage employed. M oreover, the values of eta(gen) for both polarities depend significant ly on the oxide voltage in a similar fashion. The measured generation efficiency is combined with the critical electron fluence Q(BD) for di electric breakdown reported to date to demonstrate that the critical i nterface-state density for breakdown is independent of Q(BD) and the o xide voltage.