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Impact of post-annealing of tunnel oxide on the electrical characteristics of Pt–Ti/HfO2/TiN/SiON/n-Si capacitor for flash memory applications

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Abstract

In this study, the charge storage characteristics of Pt–Ti/HfO2/TiN/SiON/n-Si capacitor are demonstrated for flash memory applications. It presents favorable performance with gate coupling ratio (GCR) of 0.68 and 0.71 for as-deposited and annealed SiON, respectively. The flash memory exhibits a noteworthy memory performance as well as retention time after post-deposition annealing of tunnel oxide (SiON). A memory window of ~ 11.2 V after post-deposition annealing and excellent data retention at room temperature under ± 10 V is also shown. The charge storage density also enhances after annealing which is associated with the large flat band voltage shift. Furthermore, enhanced program/erase speed is attributed to decreased barrier height of both electrons and holes and stronger interface against creation of Si dangling bonds. These results prove that the wary annealing of SiON layer is promising for the improvement of metal floating gate-based memory performance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors extend their sincere thanks to CEN, IITB under INUP program sponsored by DIT, MCIT, Govt. of India for providing the facilities for fabrication and characterization. Further, the author Renu Rajput acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology (DST) for providing financial assistance under INSPIRE fellowship (JRF).

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  1. Department of Electronics, University of Jammu, Jammu, J&K, India

    Rakesh Vaid & Renu Rajput

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Vaid, R., Rajput, R. Impact of post-annealing of tunnel oxide on the electrical characteristics of Pt–Ti/HfO2/TiN/SiON/n-Si capacitor for flash memory applications. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 15267–15276 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04091-2

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