Poole-Frenkel Effect and the Opportunity of Its Application for the Prediction of Radiation Charge Accumulation in Thermal Silicon Dioxide

It is proposed that the Poole-Frenkel effect be applied to predict radiation-induced charge accumulation in thermal silicon dioxide. Various conduction mechanisms of thermal silicon dioxide are considered, the conditions of the appearance of the Poole-Frenkel effect in it are determined, and the characteristics of donor centers participating in Poole-Frenkel electrical conductivity are calculated. A donor center level at an energy of 2.34 eV below the conduction-band bottom is determined and the concentration of ionized donor centers of 1.0 x 10(9) cm(-3) at 400 K and a field strength of 10 MV/cm is found. It is concluded that the Poole-Frenkel effect can be applied not for prediction of the absolute value of the radiation-induced charge but for comparison of the samples in terms of the ability to accumulate it.