CURRENT-VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF METAL-INSULATOR-SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURES VIA QUANTUM-MECHANICAL TUNNELING

The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics for a metal-insulator-heavil y-doped semiconductor structure are computed numerically by solving th e time-dependent Schrodinger equation. The Fowler-Nordheim tunneling e xpression was found to be inappropriate to estimate the barrier potent ial nor found to fit the experimental results at both high and low app lied fields. It is shown also that the computed I-V characteristic cur ves agree well with the recently published experimental data for Ta-Sn -O and Ta2O5 films at the high as well as low fields. (C) 1998 America n Institute of Physics.