Memory effect by charging of ultra‐small 2‐nm laser‐synthesized solution processable Si‐nanoparticles embedded in Si–Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 structure

A memory structure containing ultra‐small 2‐nm laser‐synthesized silicon nanoparticles is demonstrated. The Si‐nanoparticles are embedded between an atomic layer deposited high‐κ dielectric Al 2 O 3 layer and a sputtered SiO 2 layer. A memory effect due to charging of the Si nanoparticles is observed using high frequency C – V measurements. The shift of the threshold voltage obtained from the hysteresis measurements is around 3.3 V at 10/−10 V gate voltage sweeping. The analysis of the energy band diagram of the memory structure and the negative shift of the programmed C – V curve indicate that holes are tunneling from p‐type Si via Fowler–Nordheim tunneling and are being trapped in the Si nanoparticles. In addition, the structures show good endurance characteristic (>10 5  program/erase cycles) and long retention time (>10 years), which make them promising for applications in non‐volatile memory devices.