Linear and non-linear conduction regimes in broken down gate oxides

We have investigated conduction properties of gate oxides in metal-oxide-se miconductor structures in which dielectric breakdown has occurred. The meas urements were performed on p- and n-type substrate samples with oxide thick ness ranging from 2.0 to 13.5 nm. It is shown that the post-breakdown diffe rential conductance has two typical modes, which, in terms of the physics o f mesoscopic conducting systems, are referred to as linear and non-linear c onduction regimes. In this work, we propose an analytic model for the condu ctance based on the electron transmission properties of quantum point conta cts, which captures the essential features and consistently explains both b reakdown modes. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.