Observation of quantum confinement effects in nanocrystalline silicon dot floating gate single electron memory devices

Electron charging and discharging processes in floating gate MOS memory based on nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) dots were investigated at room temperature using capacitance-voltage (C-V) and conductance-voltage (G-V) measurements. Sequential electron discharging processes from nc-Si dots manifest themselves clearly in G-V spectroscopy after charging of the dots. According to the conductance peak structure resulting from the Coulomb blockade as well as quantum confinement effects of nc-Si dots, electron-addition energy is estimated to be 50 meV. Taking the electron-charging energy between the silicon substrate and the floating dot (30 meV) into account, the quantum confinement energy is found to be comparable to the electron charging energy for an nc-Si dot of 8 nm in diameter embedded in the silicon oxide.