Memory characteristics of IrOx metal nanocrystals embedded in high-κ Al2O3 films with IrOx metal gate

The memory characteristics of IrO
_x
metal nanocrystals in an n-Si/SiO
₂
/Al
₂
O
₃
/IrO
_x
/Al
₂
O
₃
/IrO
_x
structure with a small EOT of ˜6 nm have been investigated. The IrO
_x
metal nanocrystals with a small size of ˜3 nm and high-density of ˜0.7×10
¹³
/cm
²
have been observed. The enhanced memory characteristics with a large memory window of ΔV˜4V at a small gate voltage of ≪5V and good endurance of 10
⁴
cycles are achieved due to the charge storage in the IrO
_x
nanocrystals.