Memory Effects of Ion-Beam Synthesized Ge and Si Nanoclusters in Thin SiO2-Layers

Abstract

ABSTRACTNanocluster memories are promising for future non-volatile memory applications. In this work thin SiO2 films were implanted with Ge+ and Si+ and annealed subsequently. Charge storage effects of the MOS capacitors have been studied through I-V and high frequency C-V measurements. Positive voltage pulses lead to a positive flatband voltage shift of the C-V curve. Detrapping by applying negative voltage pulses leads to a negative shift. The achieved programming window using 6 V / 100 ms pulses for Ge based structures is higher than that for Si (2.0 V vs. 0.2 V). However the retention times for Si based memories are longer. For dedicated process parameters microstructural investigations (RBS, XTEM) of Ge+ implanted SiO2 layers showed two bands of clusters, one near the interface SiO2/Si and one in the center of the SiO2 layer.