Analytical Modeling of the Temporal Response of the Transient Displacement Currents in MIS Tunnel Diodes Under Low-Voltage Operation

In this work, the temporal response of the transient displacement currents in a metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) tunnel diode with a 3-nm oxide layer under low-voltage operation (
$\leq 1$
V) was analyzed by analytical modeling. The magnitude of the gate transient currents saturated as the write voltage became more positive. When the write voltage was much higher than the saturation write voltage, the transient current decayed inversely with time for the transient time from 200 ns to 1 ms. An analytical model was proposed to comprehend the 1/
${t}$
-decaying transient current behavior when the electron diffusion current dominated the substrate current, and the modeling results were consistent with the simulation results. By also considering the recombination current, gate transient currents for write voltages ranging from 0.1 to 1 V could be well modeled. The arbitrary time constant in the model could be determined by calibration with simulation data or by totally theoretical calculation. Without any input from the simulation results, the model predicted a saturation write voltage that deviated by only about 0.01 V from the actual value.