Modeling of lateral charge transfer in Si nanocrystals in SiO2 thin film

Abstract

In this work, lateral charge diffusion in Si nanocrystal (nc-Si) layer embedded in a SiO2 thin film has been simulated with Silvaco-TCAD tool by monitoring the influence of the charging of the nanocrystal in one metal-oxide-semiconductor structure on its neighboring devices. With the existence of the nc-Si layer in the spacing regions between the charged device and a neighboring device, a flatband voltage shift can be observed in the neighboring device after a charging operation on the charged device. The phenomena are explained in terms of the lateral charge diffusion in the nc-Si layer. The lateral charge diffusion can cause the interference among the neighboring devices.