The evaluation of the activation energy of interface state generation by hot-electron injection

The method and the results of the evaluation of the activation energy of interface state generation are presented. The energy distribution of the hot electron can be well described as Maxwellian if the effective electron temperature is low enough compared to the energy under consideration, and the activation energy can be defined by means of electron temperature. The activation energy of interface state generation is expressed as E/sub it/ n alpha E/sub imp/, where n describes the time dependence of interface state generation alpha is the ionization efficiency, and E/sub imp/ is the activation energy of impact ionization. The obtained value of E/sub it/ is 8.7 eV. This value is consistent with the model in which the breaking of the Si-H bond and hydrogen diffusion occur at the interface. This mechanism can be related to a hydrogen diffusion equation which contains interaction between hydrogen and other substances in SiO/sub 2/. Based on this diffusion equation, interface state generation can be expressed by the two terms of generation and recombination. This hydrogen diffusion model predicts the hot-carrier phenomena well enough.>