A junctionless SONOS nonvolatile memory device constructed with in situ-doped polycrystalline silicon nanowires

• Published in: Nanoscale research letters Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 162
• Main Authors: Su, Chun-Jung, Su, Tuan-Kai, Tsai, Tzu-I, Lin, Horng-Chih, Huang, Tiao-Yuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer New York 29.02.2012; BioMed Central Ltd; Springer
• Subjects: Chemistry and Materials Science; INEC 2011; Materials Science; Molecular Medicine; Nano Express; Nanochemistry; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; JL; NW; SONOS; poly-Si; TFT
• ISSN: 1556-276X; 1931-7573; 1556-276X
• DOI: 10.1186/1556-276X-7-162

In this paper, a silicon-oxide-nitride-silicon nonvolatile memory constructed on an n + -poly-Si nanowire [NW] structure featuring a junctionless [JL] configuration is presented. The JL structure is fulfilled by employing only one in situ heavily phosphorous-doped poly-Si layer to simultaneously serve as source/drain regions and NW channels, thus greatly simplifying the manufacturing process and alleviating the requirement of precise control of the doping profile. Owing to the higher carrier concentration in the channel, the developed JL NW device exhibits significantly enhanced programming speed and larger memory window than its counterpart with conventional undoped-NW-channel. Moreover, it also displays acceptable erase and data retention properties. Hence, the desirable memory characteristics along with the much simplified fabrication process make the JL NW memory structure a promising candidate for future system-on-panel and three-dimensional ultrahigh density memory applications.