QUANTUM-MECHANICAL MODELING OF ELECTRON-TUNNELING CURRENT FROM THE INVERSION LAYER OF ULTRA-THIN-OXIDE NMOSFETS

Quantum-mechanical modeling of electron tunneling current from the qua ntized inversion layer of ultra-thin-oxide (<40 Angstrom) nMOSFET's is presented, together with experimental verification, An accurate deter mination of the physical oxide thickness is achieved by fitting experi mentally measured capacitance-versus-voltage curves to quantum-mechani cally simulated capacitance-versus-voltage results. The lifetimes of q uasibound states and the direct tunneling current are calculated using a transverse-resonant method, These results are used to project an ox ide scaling limit of 20 Angstrom before the chip standby power becomes excessive due to tunneling currents.