Synthesis and characterization of aerosol silicon nanocrystal nonvolatile floating-gate memory devices

Abstract

This letter describes the fabrication and structural and electrical characterization of an aerosol-nanocrystal-based floating-gate field-effect-transistor nonvolatile memory. Aerosol nanocrystal nonvolatile memory devices demonstrate program/erase characteristics comparable to conventional stacked-gate nonvolatile memory devices. Aerosol nanocrystal devices with 0.2 μm channel lengths exhibit large threshold voltage shifts (>3 V), submicrosecond program times, millisecond erase times, excellent endurance (>105 program/erase cycles), and long-term nonvolatility (>106 s) despite thin tunnel oxides (55–60 Å). In addition, a simple aerosol fabrication and deposition process makes the aerosol nanocrystal memory device an attractive candidate for low-cost nonvolatile memory applications.