Charge Storage on Small Metal Particles

Small metal particles (SMP) have been incorporated into a multilayered metal-insulator-semiconductor structure consisting of thermally oxidized Si, SMP, a second insulator, and a top metal electrode. The SiO2 thickness is kept < 30 Å, permitting tunneling of charge carriers between the Si and the discrete states of the SMP. The charge thus stored on the SMP causes a large, controllable hysteresis in the capacitance-voltage characteristic of the structure which is described in terms of an energy-level model.