A comprehensive study of the temperature dependence of the Fowler–Nordheim (F–N) tunnel emission in a metal-oxide-semiconductor structure is conducted both theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical variations with temperature of the F–N emission is analyzed both for metallic and degenerate semiconductor cathode materials. The influence of the electron concentration of a degenerate semiconductor on the amplitude of the F–N current is demonstrated. A new analytical formula for the F–N current temperature dependence is derived from the exact expressions using the Sommerfeld expansion. This new analytical approximation proves to be much more efficient than the previous analytical formula developed by Good and Müller [Field Emission, Handbuch der Physik, Vol. 21 (Springer, Berlin, 1956)] and may be very useful for F–N current computer-aided-design-oriented numerical simulation. The experimental study of the F–N current in MOS capacitors clearly demonstrates the strong impact of temperature on the F–N emission above 250 °C. It is also shown that the pre-exponential and the exponential F–N coefficients can still be determined as a function of temperature. The relative variation with temperature of the experimental F–N current data can be well interpreted by the exact F–N emission formula provided that the temperature dependence of the semiconductor (metal) -oxide barrier height Φb is well accounted for by a quasilinear function of temperature. The absolute amplitude of the F–N current can also be satisfactorily predicted by the exact F–N theory while adjusting the semiconductor electron concentration.

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This communication describes a possible path for transition from a wearable computer to a fiber computer in which digital processing power is integrated directly into textiles via circuits on individual fibers. Three different classes of computing fiber substrate (active, passive, and intermediate) are discussed and some technologies for their manufacture are reviewed. It is shown here that with two of these techniques it is possible to develop new substrates for the semiconductor industry. Using an silicon‐on‐insulator (SOI) process, polycrystalline silicon fibers with a length of 42 mm have been successfully produced at NMRC in Ireland. These fibers are 35 μm wide and 1 μm thick. Silicon carbide (SiC) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) endless fibers (subsequently cut in to 20 cm lengths) have also been produced by extrusion. After sintering, this method yielded polycrystalline SiC fibers and pure amorphous SiO2 glass fibers. For many future applications, fiber computing appears to be a possible key to success. The computing power offered by such fibers may be combined with additional in‐ and output functions by weaving fiber‐based sensors and piezoelectric materials into textiles.

The practicality of modeling the power law degradation observed in thin dielectrics after Fowler–Nordheim stress has been demonstrated on the basis of a generalized trapping approach with appropriate trap cross-section and density profiles. A detailed mathematical analysis of the negative bulk oxide charge kinetics has been established using incomplete Gamma and generalized hypergeometric functions, after assuming exponentially varying trap cross-section and density profiles throughout the oxide. These spatial distributions could be due to the structural nature of the oxide after growth. Moreover, the asymmetry of the charge distribution centroid for negative and positive gate bias stress has been satisfactorily interpreted by neglecting the trapping in the tunneling region near the cathode. Overall this generalized kinetic trapping model provides very good fitting of the variation of the trapped oxide charge with the injection dose for oxide thicknesses between 5.5 and 10 nm. The evolution of the charge centroid is also well predicted but with less accuracy, due to the presence of other concurrent charge generation processes associated with positive and/or negative charge buildup.

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