Comments, with reply, on ´Operation of SOI CMOS devices at liquid-nitrogen temperature´ by K.K. Young and B.-Y. Tsaur

The commenters discuss the increase factor of maximum electron mobility when NMOS SOI devices cool down to liquid-nitrogen temperature (LNT) reported by the authors of the above-mentioned paper (ibid., vol.11, p.126-8, Mar. 1990). The commenters point out that the maximum increase in mobility of only a factor of two over that of room temperature is significantly lower than the increase of four to five times that is generally accepted, and they report experimental results supporting the higher value. The authors in replying have recalculated the effective mobility based on the linear-current equation, and state that the LNT operation of the SOI devices might suffer from poor SiO/sub 2/-Si interface properties which result in less electron mobility increase than in bulk-silicon devices.<>