Charge retention enhancement in stack nanocrystalline-Si based metal-insulator-semiconductor memory structure

Abstract

Stack nanocrystalline-Si (nc-Si) based metal-insulator-semiconductor memory structure was put forward and fabricated by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The capacitance hysteresis, and asymmetric current peaks were observed at room temperature, which confirm the memory effects and results from the nc-Si. The sharper upward current peak and the broader upward current peak for the annealed sample are explained by resonant tunneling of electrons into stack nc-Si and single nc-Si, respectively. The stack nc-Si has better charge-storage ability than single nc-Si, and a model was put forward to explain the retention mechanism of this stack nc-Si based memory structure.