Synthesis and characterization of aerosol silicon nanocrystal nonvolatile floating-gate memory devices

This letter describes the fabrication and structural and electrical characterization of an aerosol-nanocrystal-based floating-gate field-effect-transistor nonvolatile memory. Aerosol nanocrystal nonvolatile memory devices demonstrate program/erase characteristics comparable to conventional stacked-gate nonvolatile memory devices. Aerosol nanocrystal devices with 0.2 mum channel lengths exhibit large threshold voltage shifts (>3 V), submicrosecond program times, millisecond erase times, excellent endurance (> 10(5) program/erase cycles), and long-term nonvolatility (> 10(6) s) despite thin tunnel oxides (55-60 A). In addition, a simple aerosol fabrication and deposition process makes the aerosol nanocrystal memory device an attractive candidate for low-cost nonvolatile memory applications. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.