Thermally assisted hole tunneling at the Au-Si3N4 interface and the energy-band diagram of metal-nitride-oxide-semiconductor structures

Thermally assisted tunneling of holes at the Au-Si3N4 interface was experimentally observed. The hole barrier of 1.6+/-0.2 eV and the effective masses for the hole and electron tunneling into silicon nitride have been determined. A revised energy-band diagram of the metal-nitride-oxide-semiconductor structure is constructed.