The influence of bottom oxide thickness on the extraction of the trap energy distribution in SONOS (silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon) structures

The charge retention characteristics of SONOS (silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon) non-volatile memory cells at elevated temperatures were investigated. Assuming thermal excitation to be the dominant charge loss mechanism, the trap energy distribution in the nitride was determined. We present an improved model which includes the influence of subsequent tunneling of the charge carriers through the bottom oxide after being thermally emitted into the conduction band of the silicon nitride. The trap energy distribution was evaluated from samples with different bottom oxide thicknesses. Changing the oxide thickness changes the tunneling probability and in turn this reveals different parts of the trap energy distribution. Using the improved model, it was found that the calculations based on the different parts of the energy range fit together to consistently describe a full trap energy distribution.     

DFT方法研究掺杂氮化硅对SONOS器件保持性能的作用

可通过对氮化硅层掺杂来改变俘获电荷的缺陷种类和数量的方法，改善SONOS非挥发性存储器件的保持性能.建立无定形氮化硅和氧、硫、磷、氟或氯掺杂氮化硅中缺陷的簇模型；根据第一性原理的密度泛函理论(DFT)，对缺陷的簇模型结构优化并计算能量，得到缺陷俘获电荷过程的能量变化.发现缺陷俘获电子的能力比俘获空穴的能力好，电子释放过程应对温度敏感，而空穴释放过程主要由隧穿机理控制.预测与氧氮化硅一样，硫或磷掺杂氮化硅代替氮化硅作为SONOS器件的电荷储存层，可改善器件的保持性能.     

Investigation of gate oxide traps effect on NAND flash memory by TCAD simulation

The effects of gate oxide traps on gate leakage current and device performance of metal–oxide–nitride–oxide–silicon(MONOS)-structured NAND flash memory are investigated through Sentaurus TCAD. The trap-assisted tunneling(TAT)model is implemented to simulate the leakage current of MONOS-structured memory cell. In this study, trap position, trap density, and trap energy are systematically analyzed for ascertaining their influences on gate leakage current, program/erase speed, and data retention properties. The results show that the traps in blocking layer significantly enhance the gate leakage current and also facilitates the cell program/erase. Trap density ~10¹⁸ cm^-3 and trap energy ~ 1 eV in blocking layer can considerably improve cell program/erase speed without deteriorating data retention. The result conduces to understanding the role of gate oxide traps in cell degradation of MONOS-structured NAND flash memory.     

Cobalt metal nanoparticles embedded in SiO2 dielectric layer for the application of nonvolatile memory

Metal–oxide–semiconductor structures (MOS) with the embedded Co nanoparticles (NPs) were efficiently fabricated by utilizing an external laser irradiation technique for the application of nonvolatile memory. Images of high resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements exhibited that the Co NPs of 5 nm in diameter were clearly embedded in SiO₂ gate oxide. Capacitance–voltage measurements certainly exhibited flat-band voltage shift of 2.2 V from 2 V to −8 V in sweeping range. The retention characteristics of MOS capacitors with the embedded Co NPs were also studied as a function of tunnel oxide thickness to confirm the suitability of nonvolatile memory devices with metal NPs. The experimental results reveal that our unique laser process will give possible promise for experimental efficient formation or insertion of metal NPs inside the gate oxide.     

Low voltage program-erasable Pd-Al_2O_3-Si capacitors with Ru nanocrystals for nonvolatile memory application

Pd-Al2O3-Si capacitors with Ru nanocrystals are fabricated and electrically characterized for nonvolatile memory application.While keeping the entire insulator Al2O3thickness fixed,the memory window has a strong dependence on the tunneling layer thickness under low operating voltages,whereas it has weak dependence under high operating voltages.As for the optimal configuration comprised of 6-nm tunneling layer and 22-nm blocking layer,the resulting memory window increases from 1.5 V to 5.3 V with bias pulse increasing from 10 5s to 10 2s under±7 V.A ten-year memory window as large as 5.2 V is extrapolated at room temperature after±8 V/1 ms programming/erasing pulses.     

Determination of Si-SiO2 interface trap properties of p-MOS structures with very thin oxides by conductance measurement

The interface traps of as-oxidized p-MOS structures with very thin (88–434 Å) oxides are characterized by conductance technique. The interface trap density is found to increase inversely with the oxide thickness. The hole capture cross sections σ_p show no obvious dependence on the oxide thickness, but decrease exponentially with energy towards the midgap. The dispersion parameters σ_s are compared with the theoretical predictions based on the patchwork model. Both the magnitude and bias dependence of the measured σ_s are much larger than the theory predicts. With numerical simulation, it is shown that the width of the conductance peak can be strongly influenced by the behaviour of the capture cross section. By incorporating the energy dependence of σ_p into the patchwork model, good agreement between the experimental values and theoretical estimations of σ_s is obtained.     

The crystallographic symmetries of single BaPb1−xBixO3 crystals grown from BaCO3-PbO2-Bi2O3 solutions

Single crystals of Perovskite-type oxide BaPb_1−xBi_xO₃ are grown from BaCO₃-PbO₂-Bi₂O₃ solutions which are weighed in two kinds of mixing ratios: X/2 mol % BaCO₃ − (100−X) mol % PbO₂ − X/2 mol % Bi₂O₃ and (10+X/2) mol % BaCO₃ − (90−X) mol % PbO₂ − X/2 mol % Bi₂O₃ These room temperature crystal structures are examined by using an X-ray powder diffraction method. The crystals grown from X/2−(100−X)−X/2 mol % solutions are orthorhombic at room temperature, while the structures are tetragonal with crystals grown from relatively Ba rich and Pb poor ( (10+X/2)−(90−X)−X/2 mol % ) solutions. This result indicates that the difference in the mixing ratio of the initial materials brings about a drastic structural change. The orthorhombic and the tetragonal crystals of x0.25 exhibit superconducting transition at 10K and 12K, respectively. The transition temperature in the latter is 2K higher than the former. In the light of this result, some difference between orthorhombic and tetragonal crystals is considered to influence superconductivity in this system.     

55 nm硅-氧化硅-氮化硅-氧化硅-硅闪存单元的γ射线和X射线电离总剂量效应研究

基于~(60)Co-γ射线和10 keV X射线辐射源,系统地研究了55 nm硅-氧化硅-氮化硅-氧化硅-硅闪存单元的电离总剂量效应,并特别关注其电学特性退化的规律与物理机制.总剂量辐照引起闪存单元I-V特性曲线漂移、存储窗口变小和静态电流增大等电学特性的退化现象,并对其数据保持能力产生影响.编程态闪存单元的I_d-V_g曲线在辐照后显著负向漂移,而擦除态负向漂移幅度较小.对比两种射线辐照,擦除态的I_d-V_g曲线漂移方向不同.相比于擦除态,富含存储电子的编程态对总剂量辐照更为敏感;且相比于~(60)Co-γ射线,本文观测到了显著的X射线剂量增强效应.利用TCAD和Geant 4工具,从能带理论详细讨论了55 nm硅-氧化硅-氮化硅-氧化硅-硅闪存单元电离总剂量效应和损伤的物理机制,并模拟和深入分析了X射线的剂量增强效应.     

过渡金属元素X(X=Mn,Fe,Co,Ni)掺杂对ZnO基阻变存储器性能的影响

实验表明掺杂是一种改善阻变存储器性能的有效手段,但其物理机理鲜有研究.本文采用第一性原理方法系统研究了过渡金属元素X(X=Mn,Fe,Co,Ni)掺杂对ZnO基阻变存储器中氧空位迁移势垒和形成能的影响.计算结果表明Ni掺杂可同时有效降低+1和+2价氧空位在掺杂原子附近的迁移势垒,X掺杂均减小了氧空位的形成能,特别是掺杂Ni时氧空位的形成能减小最为显著(比未掺杂时减少了64%).基于该结果制备了未掺杂和Ni掺杂ZnO阻变存储器,研究表明通过掺杂控制体系中氧空位的迁移势垒和形成能,可以有效改善器件的初始化过程、操作电压、保持性等阻变性能.研究结果有助于理解探究影响阻变的微观机制,并可为掺杂提高阻变存储器性能提供一定的理论指导.     

Performance improvement of charge trap flash memory by using a composition-modulated high-k trapping layer

A composition-modulated （HfO2）x（Al2O3）1-x charge trapping layer is proposed for charge trap flash memory by controlling the A1 atom content to form a peak and valley shaped band gap. It is found that the memory device using the composition-modulated （HfO2）x（Al2O3）l-x as the charge trapping layer exhibits a larger memory window of 11.5 V, improves data retention even at high temperature, and enhances the program/erase speed. Improvements of the memory characteristics are attributed to the special band-gap structure resulting from the composition-modulated trapping layer. Therefore, the composition-modulated charge trapping layer may be useful in future nonvolatile flash memory device application.     

Modeling of Nonvolatile Quantum Dot Gate Structures Operating at Millimeter Wave Frequencies for Memory Applications

This paper models electrical characteristics of quantum dot nonvolatile memory cells during READ and WRITE operations. Capacitance-voltage characteristics are calculated by self-consistently solving the Schrodinger and Poisson equations. The memory access time for a 32 kb NOR array is 73 ps, which reduces to 13 ps in lightly-doped sheath (LDS) structures. The results show that a change in the quantum dot charge has a strong effect on drain to source current. The calculated cutoff frequency f _T is 135 GHz for a 0.1 m channel length Si field-effect memory structures. The application of a quantum dot memory cell as a programmable resistor in RF circuits is presented. By changing the quantum dot charge, the resistor values can be changed by 25%.     

InP native oxide: A drift factor in InP-MIS

It is shown that a native oxide in a InP-MIS structure is a key parameter in the time instability of the device. This is demonstrated in experiments on Al/SiO₂/native oxide/InP structures with different native oxide thicknesses. A minimum of the flat-band voltage drift is observed for thicknesses close to 30 Å. A model which considers traps distributed as a continuum of states in the insulator and tunneling with the InP surface channel is consistent with these results.     

Antiferromagnetically coupled multilayers of (Co90Fe10 tF/Ru tRu)×N and (Ni81Fe19 tF/Ru tRu)×N prepared by ion beam deposition

This work describes multilayers of Co₉₀Fe₁₀ t_F/Ru t_Ru/Co₉₀Fe₁₀ t_F and Ni₈₁Fe₁₉ t_F/Ru t_Ru/Ni₈₁Fe₁₉ t_F (20 Åt_F200 Å) prepared at ambient temperature by ion beam deposition on Si/SiO₂ 3 kÅ substrates. The samples exhibited a maximum antiferromagnetic coupling with t_Ru=3.2 Å and M–H curves characterized by zero remanent magnetic moment and enhanced saturation field. Antiferromagnetic peaks were present with t_Ru17 and 30 Å.     

Crystal structures of stage-n iodine-intercalated compounds IBi2nSr2nCanCu2nOx

The crystal structure of stage-3 iodine-intercalated superconducting IBi₆Sr₆Ca₃Cu₆O_x has been determined by transmission electron microscopy to belong to the space group Pma2 with lattice parameters a=5.4Å, B=5.4Å and C=49.4Å. Ioidine atoms intercalated between every three Bi---O bilayers expand the distance between the Bi---O layers by 3.6Å and alter the atomic stacking across Bi---O layers from the staggered configuration characteristic of host superconducting Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_x to an aligned configuration characteristic of stage-1 iodine-intercalated superconducting IBi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_x. Higher-stage intercalation has also been observed as stacking faults which predominantly contain both stage-2 and stage-3 phases. The space groups and c-axis dimensions of the higher-stage phases have been deduced to be Pma2 with c=3.6+15.3n Å when stage number n is odd, and Bbmb with c=2(3.6+15.3n) Å when n is even.     

X-ray and high resolution selenium-77 solid state NMR spectroscopy as complementary probes to structural studies of organophosphorus diselenides

high resolution solid state NMR spectroscopy was employed to study structural properties of bis(diisopropoxyphosphorothioyl) diselenide 1 and bis(dineopentoxyphosphorothioyl) diselenide 2. The principal elements T_ii of effective dipolar/chemical shift tensor were calculated from spinning sideband intensities employing the WIN-MAS program. The values of anisotropy and asymmetry parameters reflect the distortion of the selenium environment. It was found that the T₃₃ component mostly contributes to changes in the isotropic chemical shifts. CP/MAS experiments were used to decide the assignment of space group by counting the number of crystallographically unique selenium centers in the unit cell. Crystals of diselenide 1 are triclinic, space group P with a=8.485(3) Å, b=8.508(1) Å, c=8.511(2) Å, =98.835(15)°, β=111.653(24)°, γ=93.524(21)°, V=559.5(3) ų, D_c=1.544(2) g/cm³ and Z=1. Refinement using 2222 reflections for 157 variables gives R=0.037. Crystals of diselenide 2 are triclinic, space group P1 with a=9.1418(8) Å, b=9.1465(8) Å, c=9.9200(9) Å, =74.751(8)°, β=74.629(7)°, γ=82.216(7)°, V=769.7(1) ų, D_c=1.365(2) g/cm³ and Z=1. Refinement using 3316 reflections for 297 variables gives R=0.0272.     

An electron back-scattering Mössbauer spectroscopy study of thin magnetite films

Magnetite films of thickness 16–282 Å were prepared by oxidation of thin ⁵⁷Fe films at 220°C in 5 × 10^-3 Torr oxygen and investigated using electron back-scattering Mössbauer spectroscopy. At room temperature the internal hyperfine fields (H_int) due to the A and B site cations in Fe₃O₄ show a systematic decrease with decreasing film thickness. The spectrum from the 16 Å-thick oxide shows collapse of the magnetic patterns to give a superparamagnetic quadrupole split doublet. All spectra recorded at 12.5 K exhibit six broad peaks of a magnetically split pattern with H_int greater than at room temperature but showing little change with oxide thickness.     

Charge transport and trapping model for scaled nitride-oxide stacked films

Experimental measurements, including capacitance-voltage and temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements of two nitride/oxide dual-layer films, have been used to characterize the charge transport and trapping mechanisms for scaled nitride-oxide stacked films. For charge transport from the cathode electrode to the adjacent oxide or nitride, electron Fowler-Nordheim tunneling is the dominant mechanism and the tunneling barriers are 3.2 eV for oxide and 2 eV for nitride, respectively. For charge transport from the nitride to the oxide, electron tunneling with limited electron supply from the nitride/oxide injecting interfaces was observed. A new charge transport and trapping model for scaled nitride-oxide stacked films is evolved from the experimental observations. According to the model, nitride-oxide stacked films can be thought of as an oxide film with electron trapping at the nitride/oxide interface. The electron trapping reduces the leakage current and lowers the incidence of early failures for nitride-oxide stacked films.     

Light emitting diode structure based on Si nanocrystals formed by implantation into thermal oxide

Light emitting diodes (LED), continuously operable at room temperature, have been fabricated by Si⁺ ion implantation into SiO₂ and subsequent annealing in order to form Si nanocrystals. A highly doped poly-Si layer was used to enhance injection into nanocrystals. Visible electroluminescence (EL) was observed from the LEDs with oxide thickness 180 Å for bias voltages above 8 V. The EL decay transient was similar to stretched-exponential decays observed for photoluminescence (PL) from Si nanocrystals.     

Effect of oxide thickness on the capacitance and conductance characteristics of MOS structures

In this work, the investigation of the interface states density and series resistance from capacitance–voltage (C–V) and conductance–voltage (G–V) characteristics in Au/SnO₂/n-Si (MOS) structures prepared at various SnO₂ layer thicknesses by spray deposition technique have been reported. It is fabricated five samples depending on deposition time. The thicknesses of SnO₂ films obtained from the measurement of the oxide capacitance in the strong accumulation region for MOS Schottky diodes are 37, 79, 274, 401, and 446 Å, for D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5 samples, respectively. The C–V and G–V measurements of Au/SnO₂/n-Si MOS structures are performed in the voltage range from −6 to +10 V and the frequency range from 500 Hz to 10 MHz at room temperature. It is observed that peaks in the forward C–V characteristics appeared because of the series resistance. It has been seen that the value of the series resistance R_s of samples D1 (47 Ω), D2 (64 Ω), D3 (98 Ω), D4 (151 Ω), and D5 (163 Ω) increases with increasing the oxide layer thickness. The interface state density D_it ranges from 2.40×10¹³ cm⁻² eV⁻¹ for D1 sample to 2.73×10¹² cm⁻² eV⁻¹ for D5 sample and increases with increasing the oxide layer thickness.     

Neutron diffraction and electrical conductivity studies of Li2UI6 ionic conductor

The room and high temperature structures of Li₂UI₆ have been determined using the neutron powder diffraction. It has been shown that at 300 K, the compound crystallizes in trigonal unit cell with a = B = 7.3927(8), c = 13.826(2) Å with space group P-31c. Above the phase transition occuring at 775 K, the structure transforms into monoclinic C2/m space group with unit cell constants: a = 7.733(5), B = 13.234(7), C = 7.645(4) Å, β = 110.59(3) deg. The measurement of electrical conductivity as a function of temperature has been performed. Based on the crystallographic data, a discussion of the shape of observed conductivity curve has been carried out.