Electrical property of nonvolatile memory with SiC nano-particles formed in SiO2

Abstract

Nonvolatile memory device with SiC nano-particles formed in SiO2 was fabricated and its electrical properties were evaluated. The SiC and SiO2 thin layer were deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering in the argon gas ambient. The SiC nanoparticles were formed after post thermal annealing at 900 degrees C for 3 min, and then their average size appeared at about 10 nm and was distributed between tunnel oxide and control oxide layers. The flat-band voltage shift in a gate capacitor structure with SiC nanoparticles appeared at about 5.1 V when the induced gate voltage was swept from +/-14 V. Also, the memory window of nonvolatile memory devices to define write and erase conditions were about 2.7 V during the operations at +/-12 V for 1 s. According to these write and erase conditions, it was maintained at about 1.2 V after 10(4) s at the charge-retention characteristics.