Tunnel injection is a

field electron emission Field electron emission, also known as field emission (FE) and electron field emission, is emission of electrons induced by an electrostatic field. The most common context is field emission from a solid surface into a vacuum. However, field emissio ...

effect; specifically a quantum process called

Fowler–Nordheim tunneling Field electron emission, also known as field emission (FE) and electron field emission, is emission of electrons induced by an electrostatic field. The most common context is field emission from a solid surface into a vacuum. However, field emissio ...

, whereby

charge carrier In physics, a charge carrier is a particle or quasiparticle that is free to move, carrying an electric charge, especially the particles that carry electric charges in electrical conductors. Examples are electrons, ions and holes. The term is used ...

s are injected to an electric conductor through a thin layer of an electric insulator. It is used to program NAND

flash memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...

. The process used for erasing is called tunnel release. This injection is achieved by creating a large voltage difference between the gate and the body of the MOSFET. When V_GB >> 0, electrons are injected into the floating gate. When V_GB << 0, electrons are forced out of the floating gate. An alternative to tunnel injection is the

spin injection Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionall ...

References

Quantum mechanics Semiconductors {{quantum-stub

See also

References