Linear and non-linear conduction regimes in broken down gate oxides

We have investigated conduction properties of gate oxides in metal-oxide–semiconductor structures in which dielectric breakdown has occurred. The measurements were performed on p- and n-type substrate samples with oxide thickness ranging from 2.0 to 13.5 nm. It is shown that the post-breakdown differential conductance has two typical modes, which, in terms of the physics of mesoscopic conducting systems, are referred to as linear and non-linear conduction regimes. In this work, we propose an analytic model for the conductance based on the electron transmission properties of quantum point contacts, which captures the essential features and consistently explains both breakdown modes.