OXIDE-THICKNESS DETERMINATION IN THIN-INSULATOR MOS STRUCTURES

A technique to electrically determine the oxide thickness (and, in some cases, the flat-band voltage and surface doping as well) of thin-insulator MOS structures is discussed. This method does not require a model for either the accumulated or inverted semiconductor interface but assumes only that the classical MOS theory holds for zero surface band bending. By means of numerical simulations and comparison with high-resolution measurements obtained with transmission-electron microscopy, the technique is found to be valid well beyond the conditions for which its has been mathematically derived and to be applicable in almost all cases of practical interest.