Which mechanism causes increased tunneling current across a MOSFET's gate oxide when oxide thickness decreases below 2nm?

💡 Explanation

When the gate oxide shrinks below 2nm, electrons can more easily tunnel directly through the potential barrier because the oxide layer becomes comparable to the electron's de Broglie wavelength, leading to a measurable tunneling current. Therefore direct tunneling is the dominant mechanism, rather than alternative mechanisms which require different material properties or bias conditions.

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