Increase in the electron mobility in the inversion channel of a Si-MOS transistor in the case of ion polarization of the gate oxide

The effective mobility of electrons μ* in the inversion n-type channel of a field-effect transistor increases appreciably (as a result of space-charge ion polarization of the gate oxide) from the typical values of ?820 cm² V^?1 s^?1 to the values of ?2645 cm² V^?1 s^?1, which exceed the electron mobility in bulk silicon. After polarization, the sheet concentration of Na⁺ ions at the SiO₂/Si interface exceeds 6 × 10¹³ cm^?2. The ions are almost completely neutralized by electrons in the inversion channel. As temperature T is decreased in the range from 293 to 203 K, μ* increases according to the law μ* ∝ T ^?0.82. Apparently, the observed dependence μ*(T) is caused by the combined scattering of electrons by roughness of the Si/SiO₂ interface surface, phonons, and the interface states. Depolarization of the oxide reverts μ* to the initial value. Anomalously large values of μ* are assumed to be either a consequence of the origination of pronounced structural stresses in the surface Si layer due to the oxide polarization or a result of a phase reconstruction of the inversion-channel region due to hybridization of the wave functions of electrons localized at the Na⁺ ions with the wave functions of electrons in the inversion channel.