Defect production, degradation, and breakdown of silicon dioxide films

The degradation of silicon dioxide films will be traced from the fundamentals of electron heating in the oxide conduction band to the interaction of these hot carriers with the oxide lattice (via bandgap ionization), impurities in the oxide layer (via hydrogen cracking), and the anode material (via hole injection). The existing knowledge of the defects produced directly or indirectly by each energy loss mechanism will be reviewed. The net sum of all such sites will be shown to build-up continuously until destructive breakdown occurs when a critical density is reached for any voltage bias over 5 V. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.