Two-dimensional heterostructures
have been extensively investigated
as next-generation nonvolatile memory (NVM) devices. In the past decade,
drastic performance improvements and further advanced functionalities
have been demonstrated. However, this progress is not sufficiently
supported by the understanding of their operations, obscuring the
material and device structure design policy. Here, detailed operation
mechanisms are elucidated by exploiting the floating gate (FG) voltage
measurements. Systematic comparisons of MoTe2, WSe2, and MoS2 channel devices revealed that the tunneling
behavior between the channel and FG is controlled by three kinds of
current-limiting paths, i.e., tunneling
barrier, 2D/metal contact, and p–n junction in the channel.
Furthermore, the control experiment indicated that the access region
in the device structure is required to achieve 2D channel/FG tunneling
by preventing electrode/FG tunneling. The present understanding suggests
that the ambipolar 2D-based FG-type NVM device with the access region
is suitable for further realizing potentially high electrical reliability.