Different charging behaviors between electrons and holes in Si nanocrystals embedded in SiN_x matrix by the influence of near-interface oxide traps

Si-rich silicon nitride films are prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method,followed by thermal annealing to form the Si nanocrystals(Si-NCs)embedded in Si Nx floating gate MOS structures.The capacitance–voltage(C–V),current–voltage(I–V),and admittance–voltage(G–V)measurements are used to investigate the charging characteristics.It is found that the maximum flat band voltage shift(△VFB)due to full charged holes(～6.2 V)is much larger than that due to full charged electrons(～1 V).The charging displacement current peaks of electrons and holes can be also observed by the I–V measurements,respectively.From the G–V measurements we find that the hole injection is influenced by the oxide hole traps which are located near the Si O2/Si-substrate interface.Combining the results of C–V and G–V measurements,we find that the hole charging of the Si-NCs occurs via a two-step tunneling mechanism.The evolution of G–V peak originated from oxide traps exhibits the process of hole injection into these defects and transferring to the Si-NCs.     

Discrete Charge Storage Nonvolatile Memory Based on Si Nanocrystals with Nitridation Treatment

A nonvolatile memory device with nitrided Si nanocrystals embedded in a floating gate was fabricated. The uniform Si nanocrystals with high density （3× 10^11 cm^-2 ） were deposited on ultra-thin tunnel oxide layer （- 3 nm） and followed by a nitridation treatment in ammonia to form a thin silicon nitride layer on the surface of nanocrystals. A memory window of 2.4 V was obtained and it would be larger than 1.3 V after ten years from the extrapolated retention data. The results can be explained by the nitrogen passivation of the surface traps of Si nanoerystals, which slows the charge loss rate.     

Structural and electrical properties of laser-crystallized nanocrystalline Ge films and nanocrystalline Ge/SiN_x multilayers

Nanocrystalline Ge （nc-Ge） single layers and nc-Ge/SiNx multilayers are prepared by laser annealing amorphous Ge （a-Ge） films and a-Ge/SiNx multilayers. The microstructures as well as the electrical properties of laser-crystallized samples are systematically studied by using various techniques. It is found that the optical band gap of nc-Ge film is reduced compared with its amorphous counterpart. The formed nc-Ge film is of p-type, and the dark conductivity is enhanced by 6 orders for an nc-Ge single layer and 4 orders for a multilayer. It is suggested that the carrier transport mechanism is dominant by the thermally activation process via the nanocrystal, which is different from the thermally annealed nc-Ge sample at an intermediate temperature. The carrier mobility of nc-Ge film can reach as high as about 39.4 cm2.V ^-1 .s^-1, which indicates their potential applications in future nano-devices.     

Scaling dependence of memory windows and different carrier charging behaviors in Si nanocrystal nonvolatile memory devices

Based on the charge storage mode,it is important to investigate the scaling dependence of memory performance in silicon nanocrystal(Si-NC) nonvolatile memory(NVM) devices for its scaling down limit.In this work,we made eight kinds of test key cells with different gate widths and lengths by 0.13-μm node complementary metal oxide semiconductor(CMOS) technology.It is found that the memory windows of eight kinds of test key cells are almost the same of about1.64 V @ ±7 V/1 ms,which are independent of the gate area,but mainly determined by the average size(12 nm) and areal density(1.8×10~(11)/cm~2) of Si-NCs.The program/erase(P/E) speed characteristics are almost independent of gate widths and lengths.However,the erase speed is faster than the program speed of test key cells,which is due to the different charging behaviors between electrons and holes during the operation processes.Furthermore,the data retention characteristic is also independent of the gate area.Our findings are useful for further scaling down of Si-NC NVM devices to improve the performance and on-chip integration.     

Photoluminescence from Er3+ ion and SnO2 nanocrystal co-doped silica thin films

Er3+ ions embedded in silica thin films co-doped by SnO2 nanocrystals are fabricated by sol-gel and spin coating methods. Uniformly distributed 4-nm SnO2 nanocrystals are fabricated, and the nanocrystals showed tetragonal rutile crystalline structures confirmed by transmission electron microscope and X-ray diffraction measurements. A strong characteristic emission located at 1.54 μm from the Er3+ ions is identified, and the influences of Sn doping concentrations on photoluminescence properties are systematically evaluated. The emission at 1.54 μm from Er3+ ions is enhanced by more than three orders of magnitude, which can be attributed to the effective energy transfer from the defect states of SnO 2 nanocrystals to nearby Er3+ ions, as revealed by the selective excitation experiments.     

SiO_x(x=1.3)薄膜的优化阻变特性与退火温度的关系探究

采用电子束蒸发技术在Si衬底上制备了亚氧化硅SiOx(x=1.3)薄膜,研究了不同温度热退火处理的SiOx薄膜作为阻变层的ITO/SiOx/Si/Al结构的阻变特性.研究发现,在电极尺寸相同的条件下,随着退火温度的增加,该结构的高低阻态比显著提高,最高可达109.X射线光电子能谱和电子顺磁共振能谱的分析表明,不同退火温度下形成的不同价态的硅悬挂键是低阻态下细丝通道的主要来源.椭偏仪的测试结果表明,经过热退火处理的SiOx薄膜折射率的增大是导致高阻态下器件电阻增大的原因.