Physical Origin of Stress-Induced Leakage Currents in Ultra-Thin Silicon Dioxide Films

The physical origin of stress-induced leakage currents (SILC) in ultra-thin SiO2 films is described. Assuming a two-step trapassisted tunneling process accompanied with an energy relaxation process of trapped electrons, conditions of trap sites which are origin of SICL are quantitatively found. It is proposed that the trap site location and the trap state energy can be explained by a mean-free-path of hole in SiO2 films and an atomic structure of the trap site by the O vacancy model. key words: SILC, stress-induced leakage current, SiO2, ultra thin silicon dioxide, mean-free-path, O vacancy model