CVD Growth and Passivation of W and TiN Nanocrystals for Non-volatile Memory Applications

In this paper, we present CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) growth and passivation of tungsten (W) and titanium nitride (TiN) nanocrystals (NCs) on silicon dioxide and silicon nitride for use as charge trapping layer in floating gate memory devices. NCs are deposited in an 8 inches industrial CVD Centura tool. W and TiN are chosen for being compatible with MOSFET memory fabrication process. For protecting NCs from oxidation, a silicon shell is selectively deposited on them. Moreover, for a better passivation, TiN NCs are encapsulated in silicon nitride (Si3N4) in order to get rid of oxidation issues. After high temperature annealing (1050°C under N2 during 1 minute) XPS measurements point out that NCs are still metallic, which makes them good candidates for being used as charge trapping layer in floating gate memories.