Memory effects in metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors incorporating dispensed highly monodisperse 1 nm silicon nanoparticles

Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors containing various densities of ex situ produced, colloidal, highly monodisperse, spherical, 1 nm silicon nanoparticles were fabricated and evaluated for potential use as charge storage elements in future nonvolatile memory devices. The capacitance-voltage characteristics are well behaved and agree with similarly fabricated zero-nanoparticle control samples and with an ideal simulation. Unlike larger particle systems, the demonstrated memory effect exhibits effectively pure hole storage. The nature of charging, hole type versus electron type may be understood in terms of the characteristics of ultrasmall silicon nanoparticles: large energy gap, large charging energy, and consequently a small electron affinity.