Influence of nitrogen on tunneling barrier heights and effective masses of electrons and holes at lightly-nitrided SiO2∕Si interface

Abstract

We have determined both the effective masses and the barrier heights for electrons and holes in pure SiO2 and lightly nitrided oxides with various nitrogen concentrations up to 4.5 at %. In contrast to previous studies which were usually carried out by assuming a value for either the effective mass or the barrier height, this study does not make such an assumption. The approach is proven to be reliable by examining the result for the well-studied pure SiO2 thin films. It is observed that with the increase of the nitrogen concentration the effective masses increase while both the barrier heights and the energy gap decrease.