Thermally assisted hole tunneling at the Au-Si 3 N 4 interface and the energy-band diagram of metal-nitride-oxide-semiconductor structures

Thermally assisted tunneling of holes at the ${\mathrm{A}\mathrm{u}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{i}}_{3}{\mathrm{N}}_{4}$ interface was experimentally observed. The hole barrier of $1.6\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2\mathrm{eV}$ and the effective masses for the hole and electron tunneling into silicon nitride have been determined. A revised energy-band diagram of the metal-nitride-oxide-semiconductor structure is constructed.