Full quantum mechanical model for the charge distribution and the leakage currents in ultrathin metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors

A method is presented for the evaluation of the charge distribution and qua ntum-mechanical leakage currents in ultrathin metal-insulator-semiconductor gate stacks that may be composed of several layers of materials. The charg e distribution due to the finite penetration depth inside the insulating ma terial stack is also obtained. The method successfully applies the Breit-Wi gner theory of nuclear decay to the confined carrier states in inversion la yers and provides an alternative approach for the evaluation of the gate cu rrents to that based on the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approximation or Bard een's perturbative method. A comparison between experimental and simulated current-voltage characteristics has been carried out. (C) 2000 American Ins titute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)05023-4].