Electron injection from n-type Si substrates into (i) Transition metal high-k dielectrics and (ii) SiO2 and Si oxynitride alloys: Conduction band edge states and negative ion state electron trap differences

The limiting performance and reliability of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices is determined by intrinsic bonding defects. These are primarily O-atom vacancies. A universal model, developed initially for (i) nano-crystalline transition metal (TM) Oxides is extended to O-vacancies in (i) non-crystalline SiO
₂
and Si oxynitride alloys. Differences between electron injection into, and trapping ay O-vacancy states in SiO
₂
and TM oxides are correlated with differences in wave function symmetries of conduction band edge electronic states.