Ge nanocrystals in MOS-memory structures produced by molecular-beam epitaxy and rapid-thermal processing

A.N. Larsen (1) , A. Kanjilal (1) , J.L. Hansen (1) , P. Gaiduk (1) , P. Normand (2) , P. Dimitrakis (2) , D. Tsoukalas (2) , Nikolay Cherkashin (3) , Alain Claverie (3)

1 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Aarhus]
2 NCSR - National Center for Scientific Research "Demokritos"
3 CEMES-MEM - Matériaux et dispositifs pour l'Electronique et le Magnétisme

A method of forming a sheet of Ge nanocrystals in a SiO2 layer based on molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and rapid thermal processing (RTP) is presented. The method takes advantage of the very high precision by which a very thin Ge layer can be deposited by MBE. With proper choice of process parameters the nanocrystal size can be varied between ∼3 and ∼8 nm and the area-density between ∼1×1011 and ∼1×1012 dots/cm2. The tunneling oxide thickness is determined by the thickness of a thermally grown SiO2 layer, and is typically 4 nm. C-V measurements of MOS capacitors reveal hole and electron injection from the substrate into the nanocrystals. Memory windows of about 0.2 and 0.5 V for gate-voltage sweeps of 3 and 6 V, respectively, are achieved.

Domaines: Physique [physics]

A.N. Larsen, A. Kanjilal, J.L. Hansen, P. Gaiduk, P. Normand, et al.. Ge nanocrystals in MOS-memory structures produced by molecular-beam epitaxy and rapid-thermal processing. Symposium D – Materials and Processes for Nonvolatile Memories, 2005, indéterminée, Unknown Region. pp.263-267, ⟨10.1557/PROC-830-D6.2⟩. ⟨hal-01736092⟩