Nanocrystal metal-oxide-semiconductor memories obtained by chemical vapor deposition of Si nanocrystals

A study was conducted on metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor and transistor (MOSFET) structures containing a plurality of self-assembled silicon quantum dots incorporated in SiO2. The array of Si islands with an average diameter of a few nanometers was realized, by depositing a subnanometer silicon layer on top of very thin SiO2 film with chemical vapor deposition (CVD). As such, the memory effect were demonstrated by the flat-band shift in the capacitors, or the threshold voltage shift in the transistors, after write and erase operations achieved by electron tunneling through the tunnel oxide.