Coulomb Blockade of the Conductivity of SiO{sub x} Films Due to One-Electron Charging of a Silicon Quantum Dot in a Chain of Electronic States
- Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, 630090 (Russian Federation)
The electrical characteristics of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structures with silicon nanoparticles embedded in silicon oxide have been studied. The nanocrystals are formed by decomposition of an oversaturated solid solution of implanted silicon during thermal annealing at a temperature of {approx}1000 deg. C. At liquid-nitrogen temperature, a stepped current-voltage characteristic is observed in a MOS structure consisting of Si nanocrystals in a SiO{sub 2} film. The stepped current-voltage characteristic is, for the first time, quantitatively described using a model in which charge transport occurs via a chain of local states containing a silicon nanocrystal. The presence of steps is found to be associated with one-electron charging of the silicon nanocrystal and Coulomb blockade of the probability of a hop from the nearest local state to the conducting chain. The local states in silicon dioxide are assumed to be related to an excess of silicon atoms. The presence of such states is confirmed by measurements of the differential conductance and capacitance. For MOS structures implanted with silicon, the differential capacitance and conductance are found to be higher, compared to the reference structures, in the range of biases exceeding 0.2 V. In the same bias range, the conductance is observed to decrease under ultraviolet irradiation due to a change in the population of the states in the conductivity chains.
- OSTI ID:
- 20719211
- Journal Information:
- Semiconductors, Vol. 39, Issue 8; Other Information: Translated from Fizika i Tekhnika Poluprovodnikov, ISSN 0015-3222, 39, 945-952 (No. 8, 2005); DOI: 10.1134/1.2010684; (c) 2005 Pleiades Publishing, Inc; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); TN:; ISSN 1063-7826
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ANNEALING
CAPACITANCE
CHARGE EXCHANGE
CHARGE TRANSPORT
DECOMPOSITION
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRONS
NITROGEN
QUANTUM DOTS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SILICON
SILICON OXIDES
SOLID SOLUTIONS
TEMPERATURE RANGE 1000-4000 K
THIN FILMS
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION