Improvement of memory window and retention with low trap density in hydrogenated-amorphous-silicon-germanium nonvolatile memory
We report the SiO2/SiOX/SiOXNY (OOXON) stacked nonvolatile memory (NVM) using hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiXGe1–X:H) as an active channel layer. In NVMs, the reduction of interface trap density is one of the key issues to improve device performance including memory window and retention. The NVMs using a-SiGe:H as the active channel overcame the limitation of small memory window size and poor retention characteristics by controlling the interface trap density using different Ge contents in the surface SiGe layer. For a-Si:H NVM that does not contain Ge, the memory size is about 5.15 V, which is quite large, with a programming voltage of −7 V and an erasing voltage of +15 V. However, the retention time of over 10 years is almost impossible. For a-SiGe:H NVM with 20% Ge, the memory size is as large as 7.38 V and the retention data of ~58% is possible even after 10 years due to the reduced trap density in OOXON and channel layers. When the Ge content is more than 20%, the memory size and retention property after 10 years decrease rapidly. When the contents of Ge in SiGe films reach a certain point, they act as defects lowering the properties. The results of NVM devices using a-SiGe:H (Ge 20%) as an active channel layer demonstrate that they have switching characteristics suitable for data storage such as a threshold voltage window.