Formation of nickel-based nanocrystal monolayers for nonvolatile memory applications

초록

A simple method for fabricating metal silicide nanocrystal layers with narrow spatial distributions is demonstrated and shown to produce structures suitable for nonvolatile memory applications. The method is based on high-temperature annealing of a sandwich structure comprised of a thin metal (Ni) film sandwiched between two silicon-rich oxide (SiOx) layers and has the feature in which the size of the NCs can be controlled by varying the silicon concentrations in the SiOx layers or the initial nickel film thickness. The typical nanocrystal diameters and densities are 3.6 nm and 1.2 x 10(12) cm(-2), respectively. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements on test structures with these characteristics are shown to have C-V characteristics suitable for nonvolatile memory applications, including a C-V memory window of 11.7 V for sweep voltages between -12 V and +12. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.