Parasitic memory effect induced by high erasing pulses in metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor device containing silicon nanocrystals

Abstract

The metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) device containing silicon nanocrystals (nc-Si) is fabricated by an ion-beam technique. The parasitic effect in the subthreshold region is only observed by the application of high erasing pulses. By using the second derivative method, the formation of the parasitic transistor is confirmed. The parasitic transistor is only activated upon the trapping of holes into the nc-Si at the edge channel. In addition, electron or hole trapping in the nc-Si depend on the voltage polarity and magnitude, which lead to positive or negative shifts in the threshold voltage. This demonstrates the feasibility of memory applications in MOSFET device.