Metal nanocrystal memories. I. Device design and fabrication

Author

Liu, Zengtao ; Lee, Chungho ; Narayanan, Venkat ; Pei, Gen ; Kan, Edwin Chihchuan

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY, USA

Volume

49

Issue

9

fYear

2002

fDate

9/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1606

Lastpage

1613

Abstract

This paper describes the design principles and fabrication process of metal nanocrystal memories. The advantages of metal nanocrystals over their semiconductor counterparts include higher density of states, stronger coupling with the channel, better size scalability, and the design freedom of engineering the work functions to optimize device characteristics. One-dimensional (1-D) analyses are provided to illustrate the concept of work function engineering, both in direct-tunneling and F-N-tunneling regimes. A self-assembled nanocrystal formation process by rapid thermal annealing of ultrathin metal film deposited on top of gate oxide is developed and integrated with NMOSFET to fabricate such devices

Keywords

Fermi level; electron beam deposition; electronic density of states; integrated memory circuits; metallic thin films; nanostructured materials; nanotechnology; rapid thermal annealing; self-assembly; tunnelling; work function; 1D analyses; Coulomb blockade effect; F-N tunneling regime; MOSFETs; NMOSFET; RTA; density of states; direct tunneling regime; fabrication process; gate oxide; metal nanocrystal memories; one-dimensional analyses; rapid thermal annealing; self-assembled nanocrystal formation process; size scalability; ultrathin metal film; work function engineering; Design engineering; Design optimization; Dielectrics; Fabrication; Flash memory; Nanocrystals; Random access memory; Rapid thermal processing; Scalability; Self-assembly;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2002.802617

Filename

1027844