Transparent Nanoscale Floating Gate Memory Using Self-Assembled Bismuth Nanocrystals in Bi2Mg2/3Nb4/3O7 (BMN) Pyrochlore Thin Films Grown at Room Temperature

Bismuth nanocrystals for a nanoscale floating gate memory device are self-assembled in Bi 2Mg 2/3Nb 4/3O 7 (BMN) dielectric films grown at room temperature by radio-frequency sputtering. The TEM cross-sectional image shows the "real" structure grown on a Si (001) substrate. The image magnified from the dotted box (red color) in the the cross-sectional image clearly shows bismuth nanoparticles at the interface between the Al 2O 3 and HfO 2 layer (right image). Nanoparticles approximately 3 nm in size are regularly distributed at the interface. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.