Nanocrystalline-Silicon Thin-Film Nonvolatile Memory Devices for Display Applications

Nanocrystalline-silicon (nc-Si) nonvolatile memory (NVM) devices with oxynitride-nitride-oxide stack structures were fabricated with directly deposited nanocrystalline-silicon thin films using a low-temperature process. The fabricated bottom-gate nc-Si NVM devices have a wide memory window with a low operating voltage during programming and erasing due to an effective control of the gate dielectrics. In addition, after ten years, the memory device retains a memory window of over 67% between the programming and erasing states. These results demonstrate that these low-priced nc-Si NVM devices have a suitable programming and erasing efficiency for data storage under low-voltage conditions, in combination with excellent charge retention characteristics.