Fowler-Nordheim electron tunneling in thin Si-SiO2-Al structures

The Fowler-Nordheim tunneling of electrons from <100≳-oriented Si into thermally grown SiO2 has been studied. The effects of the Si band structure and the accumulation layer have been carefully considered. Classical image barrier lowering has also been analyzed. The agreement between the theory and the experimental results is excellent over a large range of tunneling current. The study enables a consistent treatment of various tunneling problems where a more simplified analysis is not adequate.