CVD growth of Si Nanocrystals on Dielectric Surfaces for Nanocrystal Floating Gate Memory Application

Abstract

Initial stages of growth of silicon on dielectric surface proceeds through Volmer-Webber growth mode (through island formation) and coalescence of islands to form a continuous thin film layer. Growth of silicon nanocrystals on dielectric surface can be achieved by controlling the nucleation and growth kinetics of these nanocrystals on the dielectric surface. In this study, we present CVD growth of Si nanocrystals on oxide, oxynitride and nitride surfaces using silane based chemistry. The effect of process conditions such as deposition temperature, precursor flow rate, carrier gas on nanocrystal incubation time, size and density of nanocrystals was studied. The nucleation and growth rate of the silicon nanocrystals is also a strong function of the surface chemistry, surface structure and strain in the dielectric film. We have studied the effect of oxide deposition temperature and surface pretreatments on the nucleation and growth characteristics of the silicon nanocrystals.

Growth and Reactions of SiOx/Si Nanostructures on Surface-Templated Molecule Corrals

“…As a means of producing nanostructures, the scanning probe microscope (SPM) methods offer the benefits of very high spatial resolution with site-directed deposition, [13][14][15][16][17] but they suffer from the inherent "serial drawback" of producing nanostructures one at a time. Several groups have employed chemical vapor deposition (CVD), [18][19][20][21] while others have used source evaporation methods [22][23][24] and electrochemical deposition. 25 Silicon nanostructures are also generated and studied on Si wafer surfaces.…”

“…As a means of producing nanostructures, the scanning probe microscope (SPM) methods offer the benefits of very high spatial resolution with site-directed deposition, − but they suffer from the inherent “serial drawback” of producing nanostructures one at a time. Several groups have employed chemical vapor deposition (CVD), − while others have used source evaporation methods − and electrochemical deposition ,,, Previous work in our lab has demonstrated that gold and oxide-capped SiO x /Si nanostructures can be produced through templating onto molecule corrals on the HOPG basal plane .…”

Spatial separation mechanism in Si quantum dots deposited by chemical vapour deposition on SiO2

“…Several methods to synthesize the Si dots have been investigated in the past [4,7], but the use of CVD has demonstrated to be a convenient technique because of its immediate implementation in the ULSI processing, a good control on the deposition parameters, and because of the possibility to obtain isolated storage nodes, immersed in stoichiometric SiO 2 . Several papers are present in literature on the synthesis of Si nanodots by CVD [8,9], but so far, the application of CVD to nanocrystal synthesis is still under development, and the optimisation of deposition parameters is still under study. Several papers are present in literature on the synthesis of Si nanodots by CVD [8,9], but so far, the application of CVD to nanocrystal synthesis is still under development, and the optimisation of deposition parameters is still under study.…”

Charging effects in Si quantum dots for Non Volatile Memories applications monitored by Electrostatic Force Microscopy

“…Specifically, in the non volatile memory (NVM) device technology, the use of Si nanocrystals as storage nodes has emerged, over the last years, as a very important alternative to conventional floating gates, because of the high reliability associated with the discrete-trap structures [5][6][7]. Several methods to synthesize the Si dots have been proposed and investigated in the last years: ion implantation [4,7], aerosol [8], and chemical vapour deposition (CVD) [1,[9][10][11][12][13][14]. Specifically the use of CVD methods to synthesise the nanodots was demonstrated to be a convenient technique because of its immediate implementation in the ULSI processing, a good control on the deposition parameters, and because of the possibility to obtain isolated storage nodes, immersed in a stoichiometric silicon dioxide matrix.…”