Charging effect and capacitance modulation of Ni-rich NiO thin film

In this letter, Ni-rich NiO thin film is deposited on p-type Si substrate by dc magnetron sputtering to form a metal-insulator-semiconductor structure. The charge trapping in the Ni nanocrystals (nc-Ni) embedded in NiO matrix induces a flatband voltage shift and capacitance modulation, which could be used for memory applications. The charging of nc-Ni depends on the voltage polarity, as well as the charging time and magnitude of gate voltage. The capacitance modulation can be described by an equivalent circuit model. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3170353]