Which outcome occurs when the gate oxide thickness in a MOSFET approaches the quantum tunneling limit?

💡 Explanation

When gate oxide thickness decreases to a few atomic layers, quantum tunneling allows electrons to pass directly through the insulating layer because the potential barrier becomes thin enough, leading to exponential increase in gate leakage current. Therefore increased gate leakage is the result, rather than mobility decrease, threshold variation, or subthreshold swing betterment, which arise due to different effects.

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