Electron trapping/detrapping within thin SiO2 films in the high field tunneling regime

Abstract
The work presents the essential features of a model for the electrical behavior of thin SiO2 films in the high field tunneling regime. In particular the carrier trapping/detrapping phenomena, taking place within the insulator and responsible for the current time dependence at constant applied voltages, are considered: the suggestion is proposed that all the oxide Si–O bonds take active part in such processes and explanations are consequently derived for some aspects of previous works not yet convincingly interpreted. The results of a computer program implementing the model are also presented and shown to be in satisfactory agreement with experimental curves which can be fit with a single variable parameter.