V.A. Gritsenkoa,b,c aRzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, prosp. Lavrent'eva 13, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation bNovosibirsk State University, ul. Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation cNovosibirsk State Technical University, pr. K. Marksa 20, Novosibirsk, 630092, Russian Federation
One particular use of amorphous silicon oxide SiO2, a material crucial for silicon device technology and design, is as a flash memory tunnel dielectric. The breakdown field of SiO2 exceeds 107 V cm−1. Strong electric fields in SiO2 give rise to phenomena that do not occur in crystalline semiconductors. In relatively low electric fields (104 — 106 V cm−1) the electron distribution function is determined by the scattering of electrons by longitudinal optical phonons. In high fields (in excess of 106 V cm−1) the distribution function is determined by electron-acoustic phonon scattering.