Evidence of electron-hole cooperation in SiO/sub 2/ dielectric breakdown

It has been experimentally proved that the coexistence of hot electrons and holes is essential for dielectric breakdown in SiO/sub 2/. In order to quantitatively investigate the roles of hot electrons and holes in dielectric breakdown of SiO/sub 2/, we evaluated the charge to breakdown, Q/sub bd/, and the total hole fluence to breakdown, Q/sub p/, by separately controlling the amounts of injected electrons and holes with the substrate hot hole (SHH) injection method. This paper is the first report that quantitatively points out the necessity for cooperation of hot electrons and holes in dielectric breakdown in SiO/sub 2/.