Carrier transport in Si/SiOx/Si structures by direct wafer bonding

The results of carrier transport analysis in silicon tunnel n⁺⁺/p⁺⁺ structures made by direct wafer bonding are presented. The idea was to create tunnel transparent SiO_x layer in which electronic states could be localized at the bonding interface and double barrier tunnel diode structure could be created. A hysteresis was found on voltage-current characteristics after applying of inverse bias exceeding some threshold value. The hysteresis can be related to charging/discharging of electron states localized in the dielectric layer. Applicability of direct wafer bonding for creation of double-barrier quantum structures with resonance tunneling through interface oxide layer is discussed in the paper.