Memory performance of MOS structure embedded with laser annealed gold NCs

• Published in: Solid-state electronics 2018-10, Vol.148, p.63-69
• Main Authors: Kastanis, L., Spear, J.L., Sargentis, Ch, Konofaos, N., Tsamakis, D., Koutsogeorgis, D.C., Evangelou, E.K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Laser Annealing; Metal nanocrystals; Metal nanoparticles; Nonvolatile memory
• ISSN: 0038-1101; 1879-2405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sse.2018.07.012

•Construction of MOS devices containing Au nanocrystals (NCs) created after Laser Annealing.•Investigation on whether Laser Annealing is an effective method for successful NC-based memory device fabrication.•Structural and electrical characterization of MOS devices.•Examination of the NCs role on enhancing the memory device performance.•Role of the Laser Annealing parameters in achieving uniform and small in dimensions NCs. Memory devices having the structure of n-Si(1 0 0)/SiO2/metal nanocrystals (NCs)/Y2O3/Au were fabricated and their structural and electrical characteristics have been studied extensively. Gold nanoparticles were formed via laser annealing (LA) of a thin Au layer. The aim was to investigate the use of laser annealing as an effective method to produce NC-based memory devices. In particular, laser annealing was used in order to obtain uniformly spaced NCs with an average diameter of 20 nm. Best results for Au NCs were obtained using fluence below 500 mJ/cm2 and a small number of laser pulses (1–5). After structural characterization using SEM, electrical characterization involving capacitance-voltage and current-voltage measurements revealed good (dis-)charging behavior and memory windows around 3 V. The analysis of the experimental data showed that LA is a promising annealing technique to realize devices with electrical characteristics suitable for future memory devices.