Enhanced electron injection into SiO₂ layers using granular metal films

The enhancement of electron injection into silicon dioxide layers using a metal-granular metal film-SiO2-silicon structure is reported for Al, Ni, and Mo-SiO2 cermets. This enhancement was found to be stronger for higher metal to oxide ratios. The I-V characteristic curves for these structures follow the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling mechanism behavior, indicating that the dominant effect is an enhancement of the electric field near the granular film-SiO2 interface.