Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2007
Charge retention properties of Ge nanoparticles embedded in SiO2 matrix are investigated. Formation of embedded Ge nanoparticles was accomplished by optimizing electron beam evaporation process. Size of Ge nanoparticles has been characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) which comes out to be ~15 nm. Presence of Ge nanoparticles is confirmed by micro-Raman analysis. Memory effect of Ge nanoparticles is verified by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements which show hysteresis in the C-V curves.