A thermalfluctuation theory has been developed for damage to metal-insulator-metal diode structures, which has been employed to determine the critical electrophysical parameters for oscillating structural changes arising in the bzsulator in a steady external electric field. The electronic processes giving rise to microdefects are of autowave origin and are accompanied by current oscillations, acoustic emission, and electromagnetic radiation. This can be used in remote-sensing nondestructive testing, and also for the elimination of manufacturing defects in solid-state electronic devices and the insulation in electrotechnical instruments.Here I consider the effects of electronic processes on the ageing of insulators in contact with metal electrodes. When microdefects are formed in the insulator, there are changes in the electron subsystem, and nonlinear effects of various origins occur [1, 2]. A steady external electric field acting on defects produces electrical instability in the electron subsystem and gives rise to oscillations in the current, capacitance, and charge, as well as acoustic and electromagnetic oscillations. Poincart's limit-cycle theory is used to show that the electrical ageing in a steady external field is of autowave type.There may be various manufacturing defects (vacancies, dislocations, and micropores), which when acted on by electric fields (and also ionizing radiations) may go over to an electrically active state and largely determine the device parameters and reliability [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Here I give a physical basis for methods of nondestructive materials testing and also ones of eliminating defects arising in the manufacture of metal-insulator-metal MIM structures and metal--high resistance semiconductor-metalThe main type of defect (dislocations) arises on metallizing insulators and semiconductors. There are differences between the thermal expansion coefficients, which on the deposition of electrodes on a gallium arsenlde crystal lead to the formation of a dislocation density of 108 cm -2 [2, 3]. It is important to reduce the defect density in integrated circuits based on metal-silicon nitride-silicon oxide-metal structures (MNOS ones). MNOS use in computer and microprocessor memories is an important line in current electronics. These structures are degraded when a charge of 10 -3 Cu/cm 2 is passed, while breakdown occurs when the charge passed is 100-1000 times larger [1]. Here I consider the initial dielectric damage stage.There may be various structure defects and microridges on the electrodes, which are places where there are anomalously high concentrations of electric and thermal fields, as well as mechanical stresses. Micropoints on metal electrodes may have rounding radii of 2--4 nm and height up to 100 ~tm. Near them, the electric field in the insulator may be greater than the mean value by two orders of magnitude or more [4]. From a micropoint on the metal, a high-density electron current flows into the insulator. This carrier injection means that the insulator a...
