Photoluminescence of Si nanocrystal memory devices obtained by ion beam synthesis

Abstract

In this letter, we propose an original method to investigate Si nanocrystal-based nonvolatile memory devices, taking benefit of the photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and the specific optoelectronic properties of Si nanocrystals (Si-NCs). Ordered two-dimensional-arrays of Si-NCs were synthesized by ultralow-energy ion implantation in 7-nm-thick SiO2 and subsequent annealing. The Si-NCs population characteristics (size and density) were adjusted by different oxidizing annealing. This allowed, at the same time, the progressive healing of the oxide matrix. The analysis of the spectra revealed the presence of two PL bands, one due to quantum confinement effects in Si-NCs, and the other one attributed to silicon-rich oxide. Therefore, the evolution in energy and intensity of the PL bands was correlated to the oxidizing conditions, thus to the change of the Si-NCs size and density, and to the formation of stoichiometric SiO2. These results are of great interest as being the first step in using PL spectroscopy as a nondestructive method to assess or monitor the electrical performances of the future memory devices, before any step of contact fabrication.