In this work, resistive switching characteristics of hafnium oxide (HfO2) with Cu doping prepared by electron beam evaporation are investigated for nonvolatile memory applications. The top metal electrode/ hafnium oxide doped with Cu/n+ Si structure shows two distinct resistance states (high-resistance and low-resistance) in DC sweep mode. By applying a proper bias, resistance switching from one state to the other state can be achieved. Though the ratio of high/low resistance is less than an order, the switching behavior is very stable and uniform with nearly 100% device yield. No data loss is found upon continuous readout for more than 104 s. The role of the intentionally introduced Cu impurities in the resistive switching behavior is investigated. HfO2 films with Cu doping are promising to be used in the nonvolatile resistive switching memory devices.

Many researchers have investigated organic nonvolatile memory devices as one of candidates device for next generation nonvolatile memory because of their low-cost, flexible and simple fabrication. The memory phenomenon in these devices is based on the electrical bistability of the material, which has two resistance states. We report memory effect in organic molecules based on electrical bistability of the materials and the bistable phenomenon was observed in poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) layer, containing a high density of Au nanocrystals and sandwiched between Al electrodes. The device was fabricated on cleaned SiO2. First, Al for the bottom electrode was deposited on SiO2 substrate by thermal evaporation in a vacuum chamber (pressure ∼10−6 torr). The PVK was dissolved with chloroform, spin-coated on the Al electrode, and baked at 120¡ÆC for 2 min to evaporate the solvent away. Subsequently, a 5-nm-thick Au film was deposited on the PVK. Additional PVK was then spin-coated on the Au film and baked. Next, the device was cured at 300¡É for 2 h in air to produce the Au nano-crystals. This device showed good nonvolatile memory characteristics. It was confirmed that it shows several region of current levels, (ION, IOFF, IINTER). When the voltage increased from zero in the OFF state (low conductivity state), the current increased rapidly at the threshold voltage (Vth), and presented a regime of negative differential resistance (NDR) after writing. Moreover ON and OFF states could be set at voltages at Vprogram (or Vp) and Verase (or Ve), respectively, and could be read at 1 V. After the device was programmed by sweeping the voltage from 0 to Vp, the current followed the high conductivity state and stayed in the ON state. And the device was programmed by sweeping the voltage from 0 to Ve, the current followed the low conductivity state and stayed in the OFF state. Furthermore, they exhibited seven different reversible current paths (intermediate states) capable for approving electron charge or discharge on surface of Au nanocrystals by sweeping the voltage from 0 to VNDR. Our results demonstrate that the fundamental parameters of the device were stable; the values of Vth, Vp, and Ve were ∼2.8, ∼4, and ∼8 V, respectively. In particular, this device exhibited excellent nonvolatile memory behavior, with bistability (ION/IOFF) of >1×102 and an intermediate state for multi-bit operation. We suggest that the current conduction mechanism clearly follow space-charge-limited(SCLC) for low conductivity state, thermionic field emission for electron charge(writing) or discharge(erasing), and F-N tunneling after erasing.

Memory cells based on Cu+ and Ag+ metal-organic charge-transfer complexes, as for example CuTCNQ (where TCNQ denotes 7,7',8,8'-tetracyanoquinodimethane), are well known for their bistable resistive electrical switching since 1979. The switching mechanism however remained unclear for very long time. In this contribution we describe the different views (bulk vs. interfacial switching), give evidence for interfacial switching in the case of CuTCNQ, and present a model allowing explaining the bipolar resistive electrical switching by an interfacial effect, even for experiments considered until now as proof for bulk switching. The proposed switching mechanism is based on bridging of an ion-permeable layer (or gap) by conductive Cu channels, which are formed and dissolved by an electrochemical reaction implying monovalent Cu+ cations, originating from a solid ionic conductor (as for example CuTCNQ). The model was furthermore generalized to other memory systems consisting of a permeable layer and a solid ionic conductor, including also inorganic solid ionic conductors as for example Ag2S.

Trilayer concentric metallic-piezoelectric-metallic microtubes are fabricated by infiltrating porous Si templates with sol precursors. LaNiO3 (LNO) is used as the inner and outer electrode material and PbZrTiO3 (PZT) is the middle piezoelectric layer. Structure of the microtubes is characterized in details using scanning and transmission electron microscopy which are equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy for elemental mapping. The hysteresis of a trilayered thin film structure of LNO-PZT-LNO is shown. This trilayered tubes might find applications in inkjet printing.

Semiconducting or metallic nanocrystals embedded high-k films have been investigated. They showed promising nonvolatile memory characteristics, such as low leakage currents, large charge storage capacities, and long retention times. Reliability of four different kinds of nanocrystals, i.e., nc- Ru, -ITO, -Si and -ZnO, embedded Zr-doped HfO2 high-k dielectrics have been studied. All of them have higher relaxation currents than the non-embedded high-k film has. The decay rate of the relaxation current is in the order of nc-ZnO > nc-ITO > nc-Si > nc-Ru. When the relaxation currents of the nanocrystals embedded samples were fitted to the Curie-von Schweidler law, the n values were between 0.54 and 0.77, which are much lower than that of the non embedded high-k sample. The nanocrystals retain charges in two different states, i.e., deeply and loosely trapped. The ratio of these two types of charges was estimated. The charge storage capacity and holding strength are strongly influenced by the type of material of the embedded nanocrystals. The nc-ZnO embedded film holds trapped charges longer than other embedded films do. The ramp-relax result indicates that the breakdown of the embedded film came from the breakdown of the bulk high-k film. The type of nanocrystal material influences the breakdown strength.

Recently, organic nonvolatile memory of nonvolatile memories have attracted attention because application as next generation memory devices. In effort for realizing low-molecular organic nonvolatile memory, the dependence of organic thickness on electrical characteristic behavior in low-molecular organic nonvolatile memory was investigated. We developed an low-molecular organic nonvolatile memory fabricated with the device structure of Al/Alq3 (Aluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline))/Ni nanocrystals/Alq3/Al. Four different organic thicknesses, i.e., 30, 40, 50, and 100 nm, with fixing middle layer thickness were deposited by using a high vacuum thermal deposition method. The reason we chose Ni for middle metal layer is that Ni has smaller grain boundary which is benefit for scaling down and larger work function (∼5.15 eV) that can make a deep quantum well in energy band diagram, compared with those of Al. We confirmed that, as an organic thickness increases, a current level linearly decreases by an order of magnitude in a log-scale except for the 100 nm sample case. That is, Ion of 30-nm-thick sample was about 1 mA and 50-nm-thick sample was about 10 ¥ìA. The reason why the decrease in the current with increasing an organic thickness can be attributed to that electron transfer occurs less frequently because of the decrease in the hopping frequency. In addition, a 100-nm-thick sample was not shown the electrical characteristic of low-molecular organic nonvolatile memory. Meanwhile, the switching characteristics of our device showed that Vth of 2V, Vp(program) of 4V, Ve(erase) of 7V, and Ion (after programming)/Ioff (after erasing) of ~6x103. In addition, the interesting behavior of those characteristics is that the switching voltages (e.g; Vth, Vp, Ve Ion/Ioff) were not much changed with a varying an organic thickness. Therefore, we can conclude that an organic thickness does not affect significantly to the switching characteristics but current level. In addition, it was confirmed that a 30-nm-thick organic thickness was the best process condition in realizing low-molecular organic nonvolatile memory fabrication process.

This is the first submission

This paper presents an approach to model quantum mechanical effects in solid-state devices such as Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) capacitor with and without nanocrystal in the oxide at the device simulation level. This quantum-mechanical model is developed to understand finite inversion layer width and threshold voltage shift. It allows a consistent determination of the physical oxide thickness based on an agreement between the measured and modeled C-V curves. However, as for thinner oxides finite inversion layer width effects become more severe, quantum-mechanical model predicts higher threshold voltage than the classical model. The inversion-layer charge density and MOS capacitance in multidimensional MOS structures are simulated with various substrate doping profiles and gate bias voltages. The effectiveness of the QM correct method for modeling quantum effects in ultrathin oxide MOS structures is also investigated. The CV characteristic is used as a tool to compare results of the QM correction with that of the Schrödinger–Poisson (SP) solution and Classical solution The variation of (different parameters) for various doping profiles at different gate voltages is investigated.

In this report we study the morphology and chemical composition of a nanocomposite memory device where the active device layer is sandwiched between two aluminum electrodes and consists of a nanocomposite of polystyrene (PS) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). The morphology of the active layer is imaged both in plan-view and cross-sectional view by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We introduce two techniques to prepare the cross-sections from the active layer, namely, a conventional technique based on microtoming and secondly nanostructural processing with focused ion beam (FIB). Based on the morphology studies we deduce that within the used concentrations the PCBM forms spherical nanoscale clusters within the continuous PS matrix. The chemical composition of the device is determined by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and it shows that the thermal evaporation of the aluminum electrodes does not lead to observable inclusion of the aluminum into the active material layer.

This work reports on the performance of different Hafmiun aluminate (HfAlOx)-based interpoly dielectrics (IPD) for future sub-45nm nonvolatile memory (NVM) technologies. The impact of the thermal budget during the fabrication process is studied. The good retention and large operating window shown by this material, can be compromised by a high temperature activation anneal (AA) after the gate deposition. The AA step may induce phase segregation of the HfAlOx and outdiffusion of the Hf (Al) towards the floating gate/IPD and IPD/gate interfaces and subsequent formation of Hf (Al) silicates. These findings are supported by the low field leakage analysis, which shows large device to device dispersions. However, the effect of the spike anneal can be minimized if the HfAlOx layer is crystallized prior to the AA. Devices with polysilicon or TiN gate are compared in terms of memory performance and reliability.

In this paper, simple techniques were proposed to fabricate germanium nanocrystal capacitors by one-step thermal oxidation and/or rapid thermal annealing on polycrystalline-SiGe (poly-SiGe) deposited with a LPCVD (low pressure chemical vapor deposition) system. This thermal oxidation method can directly result in the top-control oxide layer via the oxidation of amorphous-Si film and the formation of Ge nanocrystals from the poly-SiGe film. Otherwise, the rapid thermal annealing method can be also used to form Ge nanocrystals as comparison.

Ferroelectric characteristics of poly(vinylidiene fluoride/trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF/TrFE) (72/28 mol%)) copolymer ultrathin films used as an insulator in varying memory device architectures such as metal-ferroelectric polymer-metal (MFM), MF-insulator-semiconductor (MFIS), MIS and organic field-effect transistor (OFET) were studied using different electrical measurements. A maximum data writing speed of 1.69 MHz was calculated from the switching time measured using MFM architecture. Capacitance-voltage measured using MFIS was found to be more suitable for distinguishing the ‘0’ and ‘1’ state compared to MFM device structure. In OFET, the decreasing channel length increased the measured drain current (Id) values as well as its memory window enabling easier identification of the ‘0’ and ‘1’ state comparable to MFIS case. The data obtained from this study will be useful in the fabrication of non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) devices with faster data R/W/E speed and memory retention capacity.

Below the 65-nm technology node, scaling of Flash memory, NAND, NOR or embedded, needs smart and heterogeneous integration of materials in the entire device structure. In addition to maintaining retention, in the order of importance, we need to continuously make functional density (bits/cm2) higher, cycling endurance longer, program/erase (P/E) voltage lower (negated by the read disturbance, multi-level possibility and noise margin), and P/E time faster (helped by inserting SRAM buffer at system interface). From both theory and experiments, we will compare the advantages and disadvantages in various material choices in view of 3D electrostatics, quantum transport and CMOS process compatibility.

Recently, non-volatile polymer memories have been researched as a next generation of non-volatile memory because of its simple structure and easy fabrication process. We found that two types of non-volatile polymer memory have different I-V behavior. First Polymer non-volatile memory with metal / oxide / polymer / metal structure But Polymer non-volatile memory embedded Au Nano-crystal shows different I-V behavior. Polymer non-volatile memory shows NDR(Negative Differential Resistance) Region after threshold voltage and low to high current path at increasing positive and negative bias. We can observe NDR(Negative Differential Resistance) Region on Polymer non-volatile memory embedded Au Nano crystal. We fabricated devices three different type to confirm difference Polymer non-volatile memory with metal / polymer / metal structure, metal / oxide / polymer / metal structure and Au nano-crystal embedded Polymer non-volatile memory. First we fabricated Polymer non-volatile memory with metal / PVK(Poly-n-vinyl carbarzole) / metal structure. first type of device shows ohmic I-V behavior. Second type of polymer non-volatile memory has oxide layer between metal and polymer layer. Oxide layer made by O2 plasma treatment(100W RF power, 100SCCM O2 gas flow) after metal layer deposited. Second type of device has same structure as first device except oxide layer. Second type of device shows I-V behavior similar to Resistive Memory. Resistive non-volatile memory shows low to high current path at increasing positive bias and high to low current path at increasing negative bias. I-V behaviors of second device due to effect of oxide layer between metal and polymer layer. Third type of polymer non-volatile memory we embed Au nano-crystal layer in polymer layer. Au nano-crystal layer embedded by curing process. We deposit 5nm Au layer after spin coated PVK(Poly-n-vinyl carbarzole) layer and curing at 300¡É. We can observe NDR(Negative Differential Resistance) Region and different I-V behaviors with other type of device. Finally we fabricated polymer non-volatile memory embedded au nano-crystal by dispersion method to confirm effect of au nano-crystal. We report difference I-V behaviors polymer non-volatile memory with metal / polymer / metal structure and polymer non-volatile memory embedded au nano-crystals

Characterization of 700-nm-thick poly(vinylidene fluoride/trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF/TrFE)]/TiO2/Al-doped ZnO (AZO) structures on a glass substrate were investigated. In this study, the sputtered TiO2 films as insulator were used for the reduction of leakage current. The leakage current density of the fabricated Pt/P(VDF/TrFE)/AZO and Pt/P(VDF/TrFE)/170-nm-thick TiO2/AZO structures were approximately 8.7 and 3.9 nA/cm2 at the applied voltage of 10 V, respectively. In the polarization vs. voltage characteristics, the fabricated Pt/P(VDF/TrFE)/TiO2/AZO structures showed hysteresis loops caused by ferroelectric polarization. The remnant polarization (2Pr) and coercive voltage (2Vc) measured from a saturated hysteresis loop at the frequency of 50 Hz were approximately 12 μC/cm2 and 105 V, respectively. These results suggest that the insertion of TiO2 film is available for reducing the gate leakage current without changing the ferroelectric properties.

We fabricated organic nonvolatile memory with a device structure of Al/Alq3 (aluminum tris (8-hydroxyquinoline))/Ni nanocrystals surrounded by NiO/Alq3/Al. We obtained the best bistable switching characteristics at a 30-nm Alq3 thickness, 0.1-Å/sec evaporation rate, and 10-nm Ni nanocrystal layer thickness. The electrical behavior of the bistable switching devices was obtained by sweeping the voltage from 0 to 10 V. Our devices showed excellent bistable memory characteristics, such as a Vth of 2 V, Vp of 3 V, Ve of 5 V, and Ion/Ioff ratio of greater than 104. We found that a region of negative differential resistance exists between Vp and Ve.

Here, we report fabrication of an organic field effect transistor that can be used as a memory device. We have evaluated inorganic ferroelectric insulator manganese doped barium titanate(BTO), organic poly(vinylidene fluoride trifluoroethylene) P(VDF-TrFE), and their composite. The inorganic and organic ferroelectrics were fabricated using low cost process of spin coating followed by annealing to enhance crystallinity. The ferroelectric phase evolution is assessed by X-ray diffraction, MIM structure is used to study polarization behaviour and leakage current. Finally, OFETs are fabricated using thermal evaporation of 75 nm of pentacene. Gold electrodes of 70 nm were evaporated for the top contact devices keeping W/L=40. The OFET devices, for BTO/P(VDF-TrFE) composite insulator, showed memory effect with shift in threshold voltage of 8.5 ± 1.5V.

The hysteretic and reproducible electro-resistance memory effect has been investigated in epitaxial La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) films under DC-bias stress and voltage pulses. The bias-sensitive current-voltage characteristic of the Ag/LSMO system is distinctly nonlinear, asymmetric and hysteretic, which indicates the appearance of the resistive switching. The diffusive resistance transition, which occurred during the field increase/decrease processes, is likely ascribed to a large intrasystem charge transfer for the electronic inhomogeneous heterostructure. The pulsed voltage amplitude and duration dependence of the nonvolatile resistive switch were also provided. Clear resistance switching cycles were observed at room temperature under voltage pulses of ±5V and ∼150ns. Reproducible switching properties, involving voltage-induced stepwise resistance change, resistance state saturation, and pulse duration dependent multilevel switchable capability, demonstrate well controllability with respect to future nonvolatile random access memory applications.

Besides the well-known resistance switching originating from the amorphous-crystalline phase-change in GeSbTe thin films, we demonstrate another switching mechanism named ‘polarity-dependent resistance (PDR) switching’. The electrical resistance of the film switches between a low- and high-state when the polarity of the applied electric field is reversed. This switching is not connected to the phase-change, as it only occurs in the crystalline phase of the film, but connected to the solid-state electrolytic behavior i.e. high ionic conductivity of (Sb-rich) GeSbTe under an electric field. I-V characteristics of nonoptimized capacitor-like prototype cells of various dimensions clearly exhibited the switching behavior when sweeping the voltage between +1 V and -1 V (starting point: 0 V). The switching was demonstrated also with voltage pulses of amplitudes down to 1 V and pulse widths down to 1 microsecond for several hundred of cycles with resistance contrasts up to 150 % between the resistance states. Conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) was used to examine PDR switching at nanoscales in tip-written crystalline marks, where the switching occurred for less than 1.5 V with more than three orders of resistance contrasts. Our experiments demonstrated a novel and technologically important switching mechanism, which consumes less power than the usual phase-change switching and provide opportunity to bring together the two resistance switching types (phase-change and PDR) in a single system to extend the applicability of GeSbTe materials.

Nickel silicide nanocrystals (NCs) were formed by thermally annealing SiOxNy films either implanted with Ni or coated with an evaporated Ni film. It is observed that the NCs grow into well-defined single crystalline structures embedded in a SiOxNy matrix, and that their size can be directly controlled by adjusting the concentrations of either silicon or nickel in the SiOxNy layer. The formation of well-defined NC monolayers was also demonstrated by depositing an ultra-thin Ni layer between two SiOxNy layers. These structures are shown to exhibit characteristic capacitance-voltage hysteresis suitable for nonvolatile memory applications.