Tec wrote:
I think y_po is pointing out that quantum tunnelling is different from breakdown. It is equally likely over the whole area and doesn't need 'nucleation'.
Nah, breakdown is breakdown, and it has to start some where (some specific, singular bond), and within the context of a field applied to an insulator, thermal contributions to Fermi energy level wrt tunneling will never be the final cause, just a helper.
Thermal energy in the lattice doesn't matter. The straw that breaks the camel's back under applied field situations will always be the propagated effects of kinetic conduction band electron energy.
He knows this. He's just being a Dick :)
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