Nickel nanocrystals with HfO2 blocking oxide for nonvolatile memory application

A distributed charge storage with Ni nanocrystals embedded in the SiO2 and HfO2 layer has been fabricated in this study. The mean size and aerial density of the Ni nanocrystals are estimated to be about 5nm and 3.9×1012∕cm2, respectively. The nonvolatile memory device with Ni nanocrystals exhibits 1V threshold voltage shift under 4V write operation. The device has a long retention time with a small charge lose rate. Besides, the endurance of the memory device is not degraded up to 106 write/erase cycles.