Current induced trap generation in SiO₂

Trap generation in the gate oxide of metal-oxide-semiconductor structure is studied in this work. It is shown that the application of a field of several MV/cm across the oxide together with electron injection into the oxide results in trap generation, while application of high electric field without electron injection or injection in low electric field does not generate traps. The density of the generated traps is shown to be linearly dependent on the total charge flowing through the oxide and exponentially dependent on the oxide field. For prolonged injection with high oxide field, the trap generation leads to oxide breakdown.