A method to calculate tunneling leakage currents in silicon inversion layers

Abstract

This paper proposes a quantum mechanical model for the calculation of tunneling leakage currents in a metal-oxide-semiconductor structure. The model incorporates both variational calculus and the transfer matrix method to compute the subband energies and the lifetimes of the inversion layer states. The use of variational calculus simplifies the subband energy calculation due to the analytical form of the wave functions, which offers an attractive perspective towards the calculation of the electron mobility in the channel. The model can be extended to high-k dielectrics with several layers. Good agreement between experimental data and simulation results is obtained for metal gate capacitors.