Characteristics of Si Nano-Crystal Memory

We have developed a repeatable process of forming uniform, small-size and high-density self-assembled Si nano-crystals. The Si nano-crystals were fabricated in a conventional LPCVD (low pressure chemical vapor deposition) reactor at $620^{\circ}c$ for 15 sec. The nano-crystals were spherical shaped with about 4.5 nm in diameter and density of $5{\times}l0^{11}/$\textrm{cm}^2$. More uniform dots were fabricated on nitride film than on oxide film. To take advantage of the above-mentioned characteristics of nitride film while keeping the high interface quality between the tunneling dielectrics and the Si substrate, nitride-oxide tunneling dielectrics is proposed in n-channel device. For the first time, the single electron effect at room temperature, which shows a saturation of threshold voltage in a range of gate voltages with a periodicity of ${\Delta}Ｖ_{GS}\;{\approx}\;1.7{\;}V$, corresponding to single and multiple electron storage is reported. The feasibility of p-channel nano-crystal memory with thin oxide in direct tunneling regime is demonstrated. The programming mechanisms of p-channel nano-crystal memory were investigated by charge separation technique. For small gate programming voltage, hole tunneling component from inversion layer is dominant. However, valence band electron tunneling component from the valence band in the nano-crystal becomes dominant for large gate voltage. Finally, the comparison of retention between programmed holes and electrons shows that holes have longer retention time.