Silicon Nanocluster Formation by a Pulse-type Gas Feeding Technique in the LPCVD System for the Nonvolatile Memory Applications

Abstract

AbstractWe developed a pulse-type gas-feeding technique in low pressure chemical vapor deposition system in order to grow Si nanoclusters with high density and uniform size. The maximum density and average size of the Si nanoclusters were 7 × 1011/cm2 and 7 nm, respectively. Floating gate memory devices containing the storage node of the Si nanoclusters were fabricated. The memory window was 4.5 V when the writing and erasing voltages were +14 V and −18 V, respectively. The writing and erasing times were measured to be 1 ms and 200 ms, respectively. The retention time of Si nanocluster nonvolatile memory was estimated about 10 years.