Gate current injection initiated by electron band-to-band tunneling in MOS devices

A substrate hot-electron injection across the gate oxide initiated by electron band-to-band tunneling in p-type silicon is discussed. The injection electrons are generated by the energetic holes which are originally left behind by the band-to-band tunneling electrons. The injection can be easily controlled by an appropriate bias to a nearby n/sup +/ diffusion, and the injection efficiency can be as high as 10/sup -2/. Due to the small oxide field during injection, the electron fluence through the oxide before failure is much higher than under a Fowler-Nordheim tunneling stressing. These advantages make this band-to-band tunneling induced substrate hot-electron injection a possible programming mechanism for nonvolatile memories.<
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