Degradation of tunnel-thin silicon dioxide films

The transition of a charge transport mechanism in ultrathin (2-3 mn) SiO/sub 2/ films from Fowler-Nordheim injection to direct tunneling was found to result in the enhancement of a charge-to-degradation from /spl sim/10/sup 3/ to /spl sim/10/sup 7/ C/cm/sup 2/. Tunnel MOS structures were examined at high current density (200-1000 A/cm/sup 2/).