Charging Effect of WSi2 Nano-particles Embedded in SiO2 Layers

Abstract

A nano-floating gate capacitor with WSi2 nano-particles embedded in a SiO2 layer was fabricated. The WSi2 nano-particles were formed from a thin WSi2 layer during a rapid thermal annealing process, and they had a spherical shape with all average diameter of 2.5 nm. The electrical properties of the nano-floating gate capacitor with WSi2 nano-particles embedded in SiO2 dielectrics Were characterized by using capacitance-voltage measurements. Then, a flat-band voltage shift of up to 3.8 V due to carrier charging of the WSi2 nano-particles appeared when the gate voltage was swept front -7 V to +7 V and from +7 V to -7 V, which showed that; the WSi2 nano-particles could be applied to nonvolatile memory devices.