Study of the charge-trapping characteristics of silicon-rich nitride thin films using the gate-sensing and channel-sensing (GSCS) method

The present study investigates the charge trapping characteristics of Si-rich nitride thin films in detail by using the gate-sensing and channel-sensing (GSCS) method. Analytical results indicate that thicker (>7 nm) nitride thin films are fully-capturing; the trapped electrons are distributed in the center of the nitride, and the charge centroid is independent of the N/Si ratio. However, thinner nitride layers have significantly lower capture efficiency. Using silicon-rich nitride can improve capture efficiency and make the nitride thickness more scalable. Si-rich nitride can enhance the electron de-trapping speed under -FN erase, while at the expense of worse data retention. These results indicate that Si-rich nitride introduce more dangling bonds that increase more trap sites as well as more shallower traps.