Evidence of electron-hole cooperation in SiO2 dielectric breakdown

It has been experimentally proved that the coexistence of hot electrons and holes is essential for dielectric breakdown in SiO₂ . In order to quantitatively investigate the roles of hot electrons and holes in dielectric breakdown of SiO₂, we evaluated the charge to breakdown, Q_bd, and the total hole fluence to breakdown, Q_p, by separately controlling the amounts of injected electrons and holes with the substrate hot hole (SHH) injection method. This paper is the first report that quantitatively points out the necessity for cooperation of hot electrons and holes in dielectric breakdown in SiO₂