Electron energy distributions in silicon structures at low applied voltages and high electric fields

Abstract

In this article a quantitative study of the electron energy distribution in silicon devices at low applied voltages is carried out by means of Monte Carlo simulations including the main mechanisms involved in the process of carrier heating. We present a clear-cut interpretation of the build up of the electron distribution at energies higher than what is provided by the applied electric field. The influence of different boundary conditions on the simulation results is analyzed in detail. As a consequence, the hypothesis that the high energy tail simply represents the memory of the initial distribution at the injecting boundary due to ballistic transport is ruled out, even for highly inhomogeneous field profiles, such as in very short metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors, for which a ballistic transport regime had been stated. In addition, the effect of short-range electron-electron interaction is examined and shown to be an effective process for the enhancement of the high-energy electron population. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.