Transconductance oscillations in metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with thin silicon-on-insulator originated by quantized energy levels

Transconductance oscillations have been observed in silicon-on-insulator me tal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with the separation by imp lanted oxygen technology at 39 K. Here, we demonstrate that the origin of t he oscillations is attributed to a terrace structure of the buried oxide su rface. The terrace results in different thicknesses of the active Si layer. Quantized energy levels at the thin Si layer are higher than those at the thicker one. These different energy levels act as barriers for carriers mov ing in the channel. The observed transconductance oscillations are well rep roduced by fitting the effective terrace periodicity. (C) 1999 American Ins titute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)00636-1].