Measurements of the widths of transition regions at Si–SiO 2 interfaces in metal-oxide–semiconductor structures from quantum oscillations in Fowler–Nordheim tunneling current

Abstract

Transition regions at Si–SiO 2 interfaces contain excess suboxide bonding arrangements, which can give rise to electronically active defects. A method is presented for measuring the widths of these regions in metal-oxide–semiconductor structures using Fowler–Nordheim tunneling current oscillations. A comparison between the proposed algorithm and a first-principles calculation shows that this algorithm provides an accurate and convenient tool to determine the width of the transition region. It also provides insights into the effect of transition regions on tunneling current oscillations. The widths are observed to be around 0.3 nm using this method.