Capacitance-voltage characteristics of metal-insulator-semiconductor structures (Review article)

A discussion of the methodological possibilities for studying the capacitance-voltage characteristics in widely used flat metal-insulator-semiconductor structures (MIS sandwiches), and the major effects for which the proposed consideration proves to be effective. These include: the kinetics of a two-dimensional charged layer formation on the surface of cryogenic liquids and in semiconductor structures (inversion, accumulation layers in MIS sandwiches, including water as an intrinsic semiconductor), the details of dielectric constant behavior for liquid dielectrics containing a small fraction of intrinsic ions, electrolytic capacitor properties, nonlinear effects accompanying the decay kinetics of a liquid dielectric (cryogenic or normal) surface losing its stability in an electric field normal to the liquid-vapor interface, etc. The profound analogy between the statistical properties of water as an intrinsic electrolyte, and electron-hole semiconductors is emphasized. The advantages of capacitance-voltage diagnostics of water as an intrinsic electrolyte are discussed. Published under license by AIP Publishing.