Charge storage in nitrided nanocrystalline silicon dots

Nitrided nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) dots are proposed to be a candidate of memory nodes for nonvolatile memory device applications to make good use of advantages of both silicon quantum dots and silicon nitride films. The stored charges in the memory nodes are identified not only in nc-Si dots (electron delocalized states) but also in defect states at the nc-Si/silicon-nitride interface (electron localized states) by current-voltage (I-V) spectrum. Temperature dependences of the I-V characteristics demonstrate an evolution of stored charges in the combined system and clarify its storage mechanisms.