Increasing the efficiency of a silicon tunnel MIS injector of hot electrons by using high-K oxides

It is demonstrated theoretically that replacing silicon dioxide in a metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) structure with a double-layer insulator HfO$_2$(ZrO$_2$)/SiO$_2$ must lead to a decrease in the relative contribution of electrons with comparatively low energies to the total tunneling current. As a consequence, a suppression of the current component associated with the charge transport into the valence band of Si or from it is predicted for many regimes, especially of the low-energy part of this component. This effect can improve the efficiency of injection devices, such as a transistor with a tunnel MIS emitter or a resonant-tunneling diode based on a heavily doped MIS structure.