Write-once diode/antifuse memory element with a sol-gel silica antifuse cured at low temperature

A write-once programmable memory element is based on a spin-coated sol-gel silica antifuse layer cured at 100/spl deg/C. This antifuse is integrated with a thin-film silicon diode deposited at 160/spl deg/C by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition. When a 3 to 5 V electrical pulse is applied across a diode/antifuse element, the silica breaks down suddenly and the current passing through the element increases irreversibly by more than about 10/sup 4/. The on-state exhibits a diode-like current-voltage characteristic with a forward-reverse asymmetry of nearly 100 at 1 V and is stable if there was hexamethyldisilazane treatment of the wet-gel film before curing.