title: Effect of annealing treatments on photoluminescence and charge storage mechanism in silicon-rich SiNx:H films.
abstract: In this study, a wide range of a-SiNx:H films with an excess of silicon (20 to 50%) were prepared with an electron-cyclotron resonance plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system under the flows of NH3 and SiH4. The silicon-rich a-SiNx:H films (SRSN) were sandwiched between a bottom thermal SiO2 and a top Si3N4 layer, and subsequently annealed within the temperature range of 500-1100°C in N2 to study the effect of annealing temperature on light-emitting and charge storage properties. A strong visible photoluminescence (PL) at room temperature has been observed for the as-deposited SRSN films as well as for films annealed up to 1100°C. The possible origins of the PL are briefly discussed. The authors have succeeded in the formation of amorphous Si quantum dots with an average size of about 3 to 3.6 nm by varying excess amount of Si and annealing temperature. Electrical properties have been investigated on Al/Si3N4/SRSN/SiO2/Si structures by capacitance-voltage and conductance-voltage analysis techniques. A significant memory window of 4.45 V was obtained at a low operating voltage of ± 8 V for the sample containing 25% excess silicon and annealed at 1000°C, indicating its utility in low-power memory devices.
authors.affiliation: InESS-UdS-CNRS, 23 Rue du Loess, 67037 Strasbourg, France. sahu.bhabani@iness.c-strasbourg.fr.
authors.forename: Bhabani Shankar
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Sahu
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Delachat
authors.forename: Abdelilah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Slaoui
authors.forename: Marzia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carrada
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferblantier
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muller