Size control and charge storage mechanism of germanium nanocrystals in a metal-insulator-semiconductor structure

Abstract

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Metal nanocrystals as charge storage nodes for nonvolatile memory devices

“…Most studies have focused on the fabrication on Si and Ge nanocrystals in metal-oxidesemiconductor (MOS) structure [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. In addition, atomicforce-microscopy (AFM) was utilized to inject charges in the nanocrystals [21][22][23].…”

The formation of Ge nanocrystals in a metal–insulator–semiconductor structure and its memory effect

“…Thus, the methods of forming Ge nanocrystals can have a large influence on the progress towards utilization of the memory effect. We have previously reported on Ge nanocrystal formation by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of a co-sputtered Ge+SiO 2 film [11,12], and studied the control of crystal size and the influence upon the charge storage characteristics. In the present work, we synthesized the Ge nanocrystals by RTA of an ultra-thin electron-beam evaporated Ge layer sandwiched between two SiO 2 layers.…”

“…Recently there is also an increasing interest in the electronic properties and performance characteristics of memory devices containing germanium (Ge) nanocrystals which were synthesized using various methods [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. The device performance and reliability will depend on many factors, such as the ability to control nanocrystal size, size distribution, crystallinity, areal density, oxide-passivation quality, and the crystal-to-crystal insulation that prevents lateral charge conduction in the nanocrystal layer [5].…”

Low‐Temperature Growth of Germanium Quantum Dots on Silicon Oxide by Inductively Coupled Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition

“…To place QDs on a planar substrate, selfassembly processes, [1] annealing, [2] or physical vapor deposition [3,4] are usually adopted. For germanium grown on a silicon substrate, QDs can be generated by the strain that originates from the lattice mismatch.…”