Article

Carbon nanotube memory by the self-assembly of silicon nanocrystals as charge storage nodes.

Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, United States.
ACS Nano (impact factor: 10.77). 09/2011; 5(10):7972-7. DOI:10.1021/nn202377f pp.7972-7
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT A memory structure based on self-aligned silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) grown over Al(2)O(3)-covered parallel-aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by gas source molecular beam epitaxy is reported. Electrostatic force microscopy characterizations directly prove the charging and discharging of discrete NCs through the Al(2)O(3) layer covering the CNTs. A CNT field effect transistor based on the NC/CNT structure is fabricated and characterized, demonstrating evident memory characteristics. Direct tunneling and Fowler-Nordheim tunneling phenomena are observed at different programming/erasing voltages. Retention is demonstrated to be on the order of 10(4) s. Although there is still plenty of room to enhance the performance, the results suggest that CNT-based NC memory with diminutive CNTs and NCs could be an alternative structure to replace traditional floating gate memory.

0 0
 · 
0 Bookmarks
 · 
76 Views

Full-text

View
1 Download
Available from

Keywords

Al(2)O(3)-covered parallel-aligned carbon nanotubes
 
CNT field effect transistor
 
CNT-based NC memory
 
different programming/erasing voltages
 
Direct tunneling
 
discrete NCs
 
Electrostatic force microscopy characterizations
 
evident memory characteristics
 
gas source molecular beam epitaxy
 
gate memory
 
memory structure
 
NC/CNT structure
 
NCs
 
self-aligned silicon nanocrystals
 
Si NCs
 

Mario Olmedo