Charge Transport Mechanism in a Formless Memristor Based on Silicon Nitride

Abstract

Silicon oxide and silicon nitride are two key dielectrics in silicon devices. The advantage of silicon nitride over other dielectrics is that silicon nitride is compatible with silicon technology. Despite numerous studies, the mechanism of charge transfer in the storage elements of resistive memory based on silicon nitride is still not clear. It is required to study in detail the mechanism of charge transfer in a memristor based on silicon nitride in order to further improve the cell information storage element and create a matrix of these elements. Metal–nitride–oxide–silicon (MNOS) structures that exhibit memristor properties are obtained using chemical vapor deposition at low pressure at 700°C. The fabricated structure of the resistive memory storage element based on metal–nitride–oxide–silicon does not require a molding procedure. In addition, such a memristor has a memory window of about five orders of magnitude. We establish that the main mechanism of charge transfer in the MNOS memristor in the high-resistance state is the current model with a limited spatial charge of the traps. In a low resistance state, the charge transfer mechanism is described by the current model with a limited spatial charge with filled traps. The trap’s parameters are determined in a memristor based on silicon nitride in a high-resistance state.