An improved theory for direct-tunneling current characterization in a metal-oxide-semiconductor system with nanometer-thick silicon dioxide film

In this paper, we formulate an improved theory to characterize the direct t unneling current for the metal-oxide-nondegenerate semiconductor system wit h a nanometer-thick SiO2 film on the basis of the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation. The theoretical expressions described herein incorpor ate the current contribution stemming from the valence band-to-conduction b and tunneling. Valence band-to-conduction band tunneling predictions are ve rified by experiments, Simulation results show that the effective mass of t unneling electrons is smaller than reported to date because the electron de nsity at the injection source is more restricted than previously thought.