FOWLER-NORDHEIM TUNNELING CURRENT IN A MG/POLYCRYSTALLINE SI OXIDE/N+ POLYCRYSTALLINE SI METAL-OXIDE-SILICON STRUCTURE

Fowler-Nordheim tunneling from a Mg/polycrystalline silicon oxide/n+ polycrystalline silicon structure has been studied. The Fowler-Nordheim tunneling barrier height is greatly reduced using Mg as the cathode instead of monocrystalline silicon (denoted by Si) or polycrystalline silicon (denoted by polycrystalline Si). A minimum value of 0.94 eV is observed after sintering the sample in N2 at 260-degrees-C for 185 min. The tunneling from the n+ polycrystalline Si side of the structure is also enhanced by the sharp point effect. This may have applications in electrically erasable read only memory, where a lower programing voltage, faster programing time, and enhanced endurance to repeated programing is desirable.