Observation and modeling of random telegraph signals in the gate and drain currents of tunneling metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

Parallel measurements of random telegraph signals (RTS) in the gate and drain currents of n-metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with 1.3-nm-thin gate oxides are presented. RTS appear simultaneously in both currents. Contrary to what could be expected, the signals have opposite signs in the gate and drain currents. A model is proposed to explain this phenomenon by the Schottky effect. The relative amplitude of the signal fluctuation in the gate current is significantly higher than that in the drain current. Therefore, the gate current is a much more sensitive indicator for RTS than the drain current. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.