Rapid annealing and charge injection in Al2O3 MIS capacitors

Rapid annealing after radiation and field injection characteristics of Al2O3 MIS capacitors have been investigated by means of a fast C-V measurement technique. The results indicate that electron injection under positive bias and trapping of radiation-generated holes are dominated by an interface transition region at the Si-Al2O3 interface which need not extend further than 20–30 A from the Si substrate to account for the observations. The field injection charging characteristics are well described by a model invoking direct tunneling of electrons from the Si valence band into electron traps in the interface transition region with an energy distribution consistent with field-injected photo-depopulation studies.