Leakage at low electric fields in thin oxides

Leakage currents at high electric fields in silicon dioxide films are known to be dominated by tunnelling from the conduction band of the silicon into the oxide conduction band. Little work has been reported on conduction at low electric fields and the effects of aging on this low-level mechanism. We report on the results of experiments indicating that low-field conduction in SiO2 may be of a Poole-Frenkel nature (i.e. a hopping mechanism).