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 $\text{(>3\hspace{0.05em}}\mathrm{V}\mathrm{),}$ submicrosecond program times, millisecond erase times, excellent endurance ${\text{(>10}}^5 \mathrm{program/erase}$ cycles), and long-term nonvolatility ${\text{(>10}}^6 \mathrm{s})$ 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.