DOI: 10.1051/jp3:1994185
J. Phys. III France 4 (1994) 1045-1051

Charge generation in metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors during Fowler-Nordheim stress

S. Elrharbi¹, M. Jourdain¹, A. Meinertzhagen¹, A. El-Hdiy² and C. Petit<sup>1

1</sup>  Laboratoire d'Applications de la Microélectronique, Université de Reims, Moulin de la Housse, 51062 Reims Cedex, France
²  Laboratoire d'Analyse des Solides, Surfaces et Interfaces, Université de Reims, Moulin de la Housse, 51062 Reims Cedex, France

(Received 4 October 1993, revised 23 February 1994, accepted 28 February 1994)

Abstract
Experimental observations are reported concerning the influence of some technological processes on the generation rate of positive oxide charge and interface states during high electric field stress. Our results on positive oxide charge generation are consistent with a model of impact ionization in silicon dioxide and we think that acoustic-phonon runaway is the controlling process for impact ionization in SiO ₂ in films thicker than 20.0 nm at fields higher than 7 MV/cm. We have found that the positive charge is mainly due to trapped holes when the electrons are injected at the gate/SiO ₂ interface.

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