Electron charging and discharging in amorphous silicon quantum dots embedded in silicon nitride

Electron charging and discharging were produced in metal-insulator-semiconductor structures containing amorphous silicon quantum dots (a-Si QDs) by increasing the applied voltage in a stepwise fashion without changing its sign. The metal-insulator-semiconductor structure was fabricated using an insulating silicon nitride film containing a-Si QDs by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. This charging behavior suggests that a-Si QDs in the silicon nitride are positively charged due to nitrogen dangling bonds. The surface state of the a-Si QDs is considered to play a dominant role in the charging properties such as electron storage and charge-loss rate in the a-Si QDs.