Abstract
In this work, the Onsager equation has been numerically solved to investigate the temperature dependence of the initial recombination of electron-hole pairs in silicon dioxide at low electric field. In the 1980s, the temperature effect of the initial recombination was investigated on gate oxides in metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices at high electric field. The temperature dependence was shown to be negligible. In the investigation of total-dose effects on bipolar devices, the temperature dependence of the initial recombination has not been considered even though the electric field in the field oxide is much lower than for MOS gate oxides. The influence of the temperature on the initial separation distance between parent carriers in the geminate recombination case and its effect on the initial recombination have not been evaluated. Both last two points are studied in this work, showing a strong temperature dependence of the initial recombination at low electric field, representative of typical operating conditions in bipolar field oxides. This temperature dependence can have a significant effect on bipolar-device characterization