MOS capacitor on 4H-SiC as a nonvolatile memory element

Author

Cheong, Kuan Yew ; Dimitrijev, Sima

Author_Institution

Griffith Univ., Nathan, Qld., Australia

Volume

23

Issue

7

fYear

2002

fDate

7/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

404

Lastpage

406

Abstract

Nonvolatile memory characteristics of MOS capacitors are presented in this letter. The MOS capacitors have been fabricated on N-type 4H SiC substrate with nitrided oxide-semiconductor interface. The charge-retention time is in the order of 4.6/spl times/10/sup 9/ years, as determined by thermally activated (275-355/spl deg/C) capacitance-transient measurements and extrapolation to room temperature. The estimated activation energy of the charge-generation processes is 1.6 eV. The results and the analysis presented in this letter demonstrate that 4H SiC MOS capacitors can be used as a memory element in nonvolatile RAMs.

Keywords

MOS capacitors; MOS memory circuits; carrier density; minority carriers; nitridation; random-access storage; silicon compounds; surface potential; wide band gap semiconductors; 275 to 355 C; MOS capacitors; N-type 4H-SiC substrate; SiC; activation energy; carrier generation; charge-generation processes; charge-retention time; intrinsic-carrier concentration; minority carriers; nitrided oxide-semiconductor interface; nonvolatile memory element; random-access memory; surface band bending; thermally activated capacitance-transient measurement; wide band-gap material; MOS capacitors; Material storage; Nonvolatile memory; Potential well; Random access memory; Read only memory; Read-write memory; Silicon carbide; Temperature; Time measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2002.1015217

Filename

1015217