Charge storage and tunneling mechanism of Ni nanocrystals embedded HfO{sub x} film
A nano-floating gate memory structure based on Ni nanocrystals (NCs) embedded HfO{sub x} film is deposited by means of radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. Microstructure investigations reveal that self-organized Ni-NCs with diameters of 4-8 nm are well dispersed in amorphous HfO{sub x} matrix. Pt/Ni-NCs embedded HfO{sub x}/Si/Ag capacitor structures exhibit voltage-dependent capacitance-voltage hysteresis, and a maximum flat-band voltage shift of 1.5 V, corresponding to a charge storage density of 6.0 × 10{sup 12} electrons/cm{sup 2}, is achieved. These capacitor memory cells exhibit good endurance characteristic up to 4 × 10{sup 4} cycles and excellent retention performance of 10{sup 5} s, fulfilling the requirements of next generation non-volatile memory devices. Schottky tunneling is proven to be responsible for electrons tunneling in these capacitors.
- OSTI ID:
- 22611692
- Journal Information:
- AIP Advances, Vol. 6, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2158-3226
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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