Charging/discharging behavior and mechanism of silicon quantum dots embedded in amorphous silicon carbide films
- School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)
The charging/discharging behavior of Si quantum dots (QDs) embedded in amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC{sub x}) was investigated based on the Al/insulating layer/Si QDs embedded in a-SiC{sub x}/SiO{sub 2}/p-Si (metal-insulator-quantum dots-oxide-silicon) multilayer structure by capacitance-voltage (C-V) and conductance-voltage (G-V) measurements. Transmission electron microscopy and Raman scattering spectroscopy measurements reveal the microstructure and distribution of Si QDs. The occurrence and shift of conductance peaks indicate the carrier transfer and the charging/discharging behavior of Si QDs. The multilayer structure shows a large memory window of 5.2 eV at ±8 V sweeping voltage. Analysis of the C-V and G-V results allows a quantification of the Coulomb charging energy and the trapped charge density associated with the charging/discharging behavior. It is found that the memory window is related to the size effect, and Si QDs with large size or low Coulomb charging energy can trap two or more electrons by changing the charging voltage. Meanwhile, the estimated lower potential barrier height between Si QD and a-SiC{sub x}, and the lower Coulomb charging energy of Si QDs could enhance the charging and discharging effect of Si QDs and lead to an enlarged memory window. Further studies of the charging/discharging mechanism of Si QDs embedded in a-SiC{sub x} can promote the application of Si QDs in low-power consumption semiconductor memory devices.
- OSTI ID:
- 22412828
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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