• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.133-133
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• 2009

It is desirable to choose a high-k material having a large band offset with the tunneling oxide and a deep trapping level for use as the charge trapping layer to achieve high PIE (Programming/erasing) speeds and good reliability, respectively. In this paper, charge trapping and tunneling characteristics of high-k hafnium oxide ($HfO_2$) layer with various thicknesses were investigated for applications of tunnel barrier engineered nonvolatile memory. A critical thickness of $HfO_2$ layer for suppressing the charge trapping and enhancing the tunneling sensitivity of tunnel barrier were developed. Also, the charge trap centroid and charge trap density were extracted by constant current stress (CCS) method. As a result, the optimization of $HfO_2$ thickness considerably improved the performances of non-volatile memory(NVM).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2009

The electrical characteristics of band-gap engineered tunneling barriers consisting of thin $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$ dielectric layers were investigated for nonvolatile memory device applications. The band structure of band-gap engineered tunneling barriers was studied and the effectiveness of these tunneling barriers was compared with the conventional tunneling $SiO_2$ barrier. The band-gap engineered tunneling barriers composed of thin $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$ layers showed a lower operation voltage, faster speed and longer retention time than the conventional $SiO_2$ tunnel barrier. The thickness of each $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$ layer was optimized to improve the performance of non-volatile memory.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.189-190
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• 2008

The electrical characteristics of band-gap engineered tunneling barriers consisting of thin $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$ dielectric layers were investigated. The band structure of stacked tunneling barriers was studied and the effectiveness of these tunneling barriers was compared with that of the conventional tunneling barrier. The band-gap engineered tunneling barriers show the lower operation voltage, faster speed and longer retention time than the conventional $SiO_2$ tunnel barrier. The thickness of each $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$ layer was optimized to improve the performance of non-volatile memory.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.415-416
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• 2009

The tunnel barrier engineered charge trap flash (TBE-CTF) non-volatile memory using CRESTED tunneling barrier was fabricated by stacking thin $Si_3N_4$ and $SiO_2$ dielectric layers. Moreover, high-k based $HfO_2$ charge trap layer and $Al_2O_3$ blocking layer were used for further improvement of the NVM (non-volatile memory) performances. The programming/erasing speed, endurance and data retention of TBE-CTF memory was evaluated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.255-255
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• 2010

Recently, nonvolatile memories (NVM) of various types have been researched to improve the electrical performance such as program/erase voltages, speed and retention times. Also, the charge trap memory is a strong candidate to realize the ultra dense 20-nm scale NVM. Furthermore, the high charge efficiency and the thermal stability of SiC nanocrystals NVM with single $SiO_2$ tunnel barrier have been reported. [1-2] In this study, the SiC charge trap NVM was fabricated and electrical properties were characterized. The 100-nm thick Poly-Si layer was deposited to confined source/drain region by using low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LP-CVD). After etching and lithography process for fabricate the gate region, the $Si_3N_4/SiO_2/Si_3N_4$ (NON) and $SiO_2/Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ (ONO) barrier engineered tunnel layer were deposited by using LP-CVD. The equivalent oxide thickness of NON and ONO tunnel layer are 5.2 nm and 5.6 nm, respectively. By using ultra-high vacuum magnetron sputtering with base pressure 3x10-10 Torr, the 2-nm SiC and 20-nm $SiO_2$ were successively deposited on ONO and NON tunnel layers. Finally, after deposited 200-nm thick Al layer, the source, drain and gate areas were defined by using reactive-ion etching and photolithography. The lengths of squire gate are $2\;{\mu}m$, $5\;{\mu}m$ and $10\;{\mu}m$. The electrical properties of devices were measured by using a HP 4156A precision semiconductor parameter analyzer, E4980A LCR capacitor meter and an Agilent 81104A pulse pattern generator system. The electrical characteristics such as the memory effect, program/erase speeds, operation voltages, and retention time of SiC charge trap memory device with barrier engineered tunnel layer will be discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.466-468
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• 2009

The metal-insulator-silicon (MIS) capacitors with $SiO_2$ and high-k dielectrics ($HfO_2$, $Al_2O_3$) were fabricated, and the current-voltage characteristics were investigated. Especially, an effective barrier height between metal gate and dielectric was extracted by using Fowler-Nordheim (FN) plot and Direct Tunneling (DT) plot of quantum mechanical(QM) modeling. The calculated barrier heights of thermal $SiO_2$, ALD $SiO_2$, $HfO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ are 3.35 eV, 0.6 eV, 1.75 eV, and 2.65 eV, respectively. Therefore, the performance of non-volatile memory devices can be improved by using engineered tunnel barrier which is considered effective barrier height of high-k materials.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.53-53
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• 2009

Charge trap flash memory devices with modified tunneling barriers were fabricated using the tunneling barrier engineering technique. Variable oxide thickness (VARIOT) barrier and CRESTED barrier consisting of thin $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$ dielectric layers were used as engineered tunneling barriers. The VARIOT type tunneling barrier composed of oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) layers revealed reliable electrical characteristics; long retention time and superior endurance. On the other hand, the CRESTED tunneling barrier composed of nitride-oxide-nitride (NON) layers showed degraded retention and endurance characteristics. It is found that the degradation of NON barrier is associated with the increase of interface state density at tunneling barrier/silicon channel by programming and erasing (P/E) stress.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.24-25
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• 2008

The effect of heat treatment in $HfO_2$ as charge trap with $SiO_2/Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ as tunnel oxide layer in capacitors has been investigated. Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) were carried out at the temperature range of 600 - $900^{\circ}C$. It is found that all devices carried out heat treatment have large threshold voltage shift Especially, device performed heat treatment at $900^{\circ}C$ has been confirmed the largest memory window. Also, Threshold voltage shift of device used conventional $SiO_2$ as tunnel oxide layer was smaller than that with $SiO_2/Si_3N_4/SiO_2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.134-134
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• 2011

High-k dielectric materials such as $HfO_2$, $ZrO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ increase gate capacitance and reduce gate leakage current in MOSFET structures. This behavior suggests that high-k materials will be promise candidates to substitute as a tunnel barrier. Furthermore, stack structure of low-k and high-k tunnel barrier named variable oxide thickness (VARIOT) is more efficient.[1] In this study, we fabricated the $WSi_2$ nanocrystals nonvolatile memory device with $SiO_2/HfO_2/Al_2O_3$ tunnel layer. The $WSi_2$ nano-floating gate capacitors were fabricated on p-type Si (100) wafers. After wafer cleaning, the phosphorus in-situ doped poly-Si layer with a thickness of 100 nm was deposited on isolated active region to confine source and drain. Then, on the gate region defined by using reactive ion etching, the barrier engineered multi-stack tunnel layers of $SiO_2/HfO_2/Al_2O_3$ (2 nm/1 nm/3 nm) were deposited the gate region on Si substrate by using atomic layer deposition. To fabricate $WSi_2$ nanocrystals, the ultrathin $WSi_2$ film with a thickness of 3-4 nm was deposited on the multi-stack tunnel layer by using direct current magnetron sputtering system [2]. Subsequently, the first post annealing process was carried out at $900^{\circ}C$ for 1 min by using rapid thermal annealing system in nitrogen gas ambient. The 15-nm-thick $SiO_2$ control layer was deposited by using ultra-high vacuum magnetron sputtering. For $SiO_2$ layer density, the second post annealing process was carried out at $900^{\circ}C$ for 30 seconds by using rapid thermal annealing system in nitrogen gas ambient. The aluminum gate electrodes of 200-nm thickness were formed by thermal evaporation. The electrical properties of devices were measured by using a HP 4156A precision semiconductor parameter analyzer with HP 41501A pulse generator, an Agillent 81104A 80MHz pulse/pattern generator and an Agillent E5250A low leakage switch mainframe. We will discuss the electrical properties for application next generation non-volatile memory device.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.186-186
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• 2010

소자의 축소화에 따라 floating gate 형의 flash 메모리 소자는 얇은 게이트 절연막 등의 이유로, 이웃 셀 간의 커플링 및 게이트 누설 전류와 같은 문제점을 지니고 있다. 이러한 문제점을 극복하기 위해 charge trap flash 메모리 (CTF) 소자가 연구되고 있지만, CTF 메모리 소자는 쓰기/지우기 속도와 데이터 보존 성능간의 trade-off 관계와 같은 문제점을 지니고 있다. 최근, 이를 극복하기 위한 방안으로, 다른 유전율을 갖는 유전체들을 적층시킨 터널 절연막을 이용한 Tunnel Barrier Engineered (TBE) 기술이 주목 받고 있다. 따라서, 본 논문에서는 TBE 기술을 적용한 MIS-capacitor를 높은 유전율을 가지는 Al2O3와 HfO2를 이용하여 제작하였다. 이를 위해 먼저 Si 기판 위에 Al2O3 /HfO2 /Al2O3 (AHA)를 Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) 방법으로 약 2/1/3 nm의 두께를 가지도록 증착 하였고, Aluminum을 150 nm 증착 하여 게이트 전극으로 이용하였다. Capacitance-Voltage와 Current-Voltage 특성을 측정, 분석함으로써, AHA 구조를 가지는 터널 절연막의 전기적인 특성을 확인 하였다. 또한, high-k 물질을 이용한 터널 절연막을 급속 열처리 공정 (Rapid Thermal Annealing-RTA) 과 H2/N2분위기에서 후속열처리 공정 (Post-RTA)을 통하여 전기적인 특성을 개선 시켰다. 적층된 터널 절연막은 열처리를 통해 터널링 전류의 민감도의 향상과 함께 누설전류가 감소됨으로서 우수한 전기적인 특성이 나타남을 확인하였으며, 적층된 터널 절연막 구조와 적절한 열처리를 이용하여 빠른 쓰기/지우기 속도와 전기적인 특성이 향상된 비휘발성 메모리 소자를 기대할 수 있다.