Quantum tunneling is an important theory in quantum mechanics,in which there are chances for microscopic particles to pass through a barrier higher than their own energy.Because of this special property,it has been applied in many frontier fields and has a good development prospect.The study introduces quantum tunneling effect,reviews the development history of quantum mechanics and the basic principle of quantum tunneling effect,and deduces the calculation formulas of transmission coefficient and reflection coefficient of free particles passing through one-dimensional symmetric barrier from Schrodinger's steady state equation.It is found that the transmission coefficient is related to the barrier width,barrier interval and the ratio of incident energy to barrier height.Then the study analyzes and prospects the application of quantum tunneling effect in scanning tunneling microscope,tunneling diode,Josephson junction and black hole quantum tunneling.