Abstract
Trapped charges inside an isolated germanium nanocrystal (Ge NC) have been studied by two-pass lift mode electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) measurements at room temperature. From visualized EFM images, electrons and holes were proven to be successfully injected and trapped in the Ge NC and distributed homogenously at the edge of its truncated spherical morphology. The Ge NC is found to have iso-potential surface and behave as a conductive material after being charged. It is also shown that the dominant charge decay mechanism during discharging of Ge NCs is related to the leakage of these trapped charges. A truncated capacitor model is used to approximate the real capacitance between the tip and Ge NC surface and to quantitatively study these trapped charges. These investigations demonstrate the potential for Ge nanocrystal memory applications.
Highlights
Such nanostructures are of a great interest because the injected carriers are strongly constrained in their propagation, and interact with a finite geometry which should be generally the case in nano-electronic devices
The accurate phase signal conducted by electrostatic force interactions was used to determine the charge retention time inside the germanium nanocrystal (Ge NC)
The charge storage and retention effects are discussed in the context of Ge NC memory application
Summary
Such nanostructures are of a great interest because the injected carriers are strongly constrained in their propagation, and interact with a finite geometry which should be generally the case in nano-electronic devices. The accurate phase signal conducted by electrostatic force interactions was used to determine the charge retention time inside the Ge NCs. The charge storage and retention effects are discussed in the context of Ge NC memory application.
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