Prolonged Transient Behavior of Ultrathin Oxide MIS-Tunneling Diode Induced by Deep Depletion of Surrounded Coupling Electrode

In this article, the prolonged transient current and the coupled voltage retention behavior of ultrathin oxide MISTD induced by deep depletion of surrounded coupling electrode is investigated. The transient current is induced to balance the surrounded coupling electrode returning to its thermal equilibrium state, and the coupling voltage sensed is the result of the perturbation by the nearby deep depletion. The prolonged transient behavior of the sensed current is explained by the modulation of the hole leakage from the ring metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS). Also, the behavior of the coupled voltage retention is the result of the generated electrons being swept toward the ring MIS by lateral field. The oxide thickness, coupling gap width, and trapping charges were shown to have influences on both behaviors. Moreover, the sensed coupled voltage of the center MISTD are utilized as memory characteristic and the operation of the proposed MIS memory cell is demonstrated. Oxide thickness smaller than 26 Å was proposed for the prolonged transient phenomenon. The power consumption of this device is very low due to limited saturation current.