Thickness measurements for ultrathin-film insulator metal-oxide-semiconductor structures using Fowler-Nordheim tunneling current oscillations

An interference method is introduced to analyze tunneling current oscillati ons, and a fresh way to extrapolate the oxide thickness in ultrathin-film i nsulator metal-oxide-semiconductor structures by using the oscillations in the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling currents is presented. A comparison between t his extrapolation algorithm and a previous algorithm using tunneling curren t oscillations shows that the new extrapolation algorithm provides a more a ccurate and convenient solution to a first principles calculation especiall y for ultrathin oxide. Another important feature of the proposed method is that it can be applied to various shapes of potential barriers and wells. ( C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)07923-8].