A first-principle investigation of the oxygen defects in Si<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>-based charge trapping memories

Luo, Jing; J, Lu; Hongpeng, Zhao; Dai, Yong; Liu, Qi; Jin, Yang; Jiang, Xianwei; Xu, Hui

doi:10.1088/1674-4926/35/1/014004

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J. Semicond.

2014

DOI: 10.1088/1674-4926/35/1/014004

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A first-principle investigation of the oxygen defects in Si₃N₄-based charge trapping memories

Jing Luo

Lu J

Zhao Hongpeng

et al.

Abstract: Based on first principle calculations, a comprehensive study of substitutional oxygen defects in hexagonal silicon nitride (ˇ-Si 3 N 4 / has been carried out. Firstly, it is found that substitutional oxygen is most likely to form clusters at three sites in Si 3 N 4 due to the intense attractive interaction between oxygen defects. Then, by using three analytical tools (trap energy, modified Bader analysis and charge density difference), we discuss the trap abilities of the three clusters. The result shows that … Show more

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Cited by 2 publications

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Research on charge trapping memory’s over erase

Wang¹,

Dai²,

Yuan-Yang³

et al. 2014

Acta Phys. Sin.

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In this paper, charge trapping memory (CTM) is studied for analyzing the over-erase phenomenon, based on the first principles and VASP package. The nitrogen vacancy (VN) in Si3N4 and the interstitial oxygen (IO) in HfO2 are selected as model, because of the formation energy. The result about trapping energy shows that the electrons are trapped more easily than holes in these models, so the electrons are selected as programming/erase object. The energy after programming/erase operation, Bader charge analysis, different charge densities, adsorption energy and density of states are all studied to explain the over-erase micro change. The energy and electron change show that HfO2 as trapping layer makes CTM more reliable than Si3N4 as trapping layer; and after a programming/erase cycle, electrons in Si3N4 are erased more than programming ones; and the result of adsorption energy shows that the electrons can exchange more easily in Si3N4 than in HfO2. Finally, the research on the density of states shows that Si3N4 has shallow trapping energy level, HfO2 has deep trapping energy level. In conclusion, the essence of the over-erase in Si3N4 is that the atoms near the defect have weaker localized action on the electrons, resulting in the instinct electrons that are erased in erase operation. The over-erase essence is revealed, which is of benefit to improving the reliability and retention.

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Research on charge trapping memory’s over erase

Wang¹,

Dai²,

Yuan-Yang³

et al. 2014

Acta Phys. Sin.

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First-principles study on the minimization of over-erase phenomenon in Si3N4 trapping layer

Yue-Hua¹,

Bo²,

Wang³

et al. 2015

Acta Phys. Sin.

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The first-principles method has been used to explore how to minimize the over-erase phenomenon in charge trapping memory. Over-erase phenomenon originates from the nitrogen vacancy due to its weak localization of charge on Si atoms. Therefore, we develop a defect model for studying Si3N4 supercells. The defect model consists of an N vacancy and a substitutional atom on the Si site. The substitutional atoms can be C, N, and O atoms, respectively. The Si site belongs to the N vacancy. Then, the Bader charge distribution after program/erase operation, the interaction energy and density of states are calculated for the model so as to analyze the effects of the substitutional atoms on the over-erase phenomenon. The obtained results of the Bader charge distribution show that the substitution of O for the 128th Si can minimize the over-erase phenomenon in Si3N4, and the replacement of the 128th Si by C can also reduce the over-erase phenomenon. However, the model represents a weak localization of charge due to the replacement by C, which is not preferable for charge storage. And the results also reveal that the substitution of N for the 128th Si completely fails to reduce the over-erase phenomenon. With regard to the 162th and 196th Si sites, the substitutions of the three atoms for the two sites cannot minimize the over-erase phenomenon. Furthermore, the analysis of the interaction energies indicates that the combination of each of the three atoms with the N vacancy can form stable clusters on the 128th site in the model. In particular, the attractive interaction between O and N vacancy is the weakest of the three so that the injected charge can temporarily break the stability of the O cluster to rearrange the charge distribution, realizing the localization of charge around the O cluster. And then, the results of the density of states designate that subtitutional O atom at the 128th Si atom site produces a deep-level trap in the band gap, which has a powerful ability to localize the charge. The above results suggest that substitution of O for Si is an excellent solution for the minimization of over-erase phenomenon in Si3N4. This work can provide a method for the minimization of over-erase phenomenon in charge trapping memory and also can be helpful to the improvement of charge retention and optimization of memory window in the charge trapping memory.

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A first-principle investigation of the oxygen defects in Si₃N₄-based charge trapping memories

Cited by 2 publications

References 15 publications

Research on charge trapping memory’s over erase

Research on charge trapping memory’s over erase

First-principles study on the minimization of over-erase phenomenon in Si3N4 trapping layer

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A first-principle investigation of the oxygen defects in Si3N4-based charge trapping memories

Cited by 2 publications

References 15 publications

Research on charge trapping memory’s over erase

Research on charge trapping memory’s over erase

First-principles study on the minimization of over-erase phenomenon in Si3N4 trapping layer

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A first-principle investigation of the oxygen defects in Si₃N₄-based charge trapping memories