Ta(2)O(5)-TiO(2) Composite Charge-trapping Dielectric for the Application of the Nonvolatile Memory

The charge-trapping memory devices with a structure Pt/Al(2)O(3)/(Ta(2)O(5))(x)(TiO(2))(1−x)/Al(2)O(3)/p-Si (x = 0.9, 0.75, 0.5, 0.25) were fabricated by using rf-sputtering and atomic layer deposition techniques. A special band alignment between (Ta(2)O(5))(x)(TiO(2))(1−x) and Si substrate was designed to enhance the memory performance by controlling the composition and dielectric constant of the charge-trapping layer and reducing the difference of the potentials at the bottom of the conduction band between (Ta(2)O(5))(x)(TiO(2))(1−x) and Si substrate. The memory device with a composite charge storage layer (Ta(2)O(5))(0.5)(TiO(2))(0.5) shows a density of trapped charges 3.84 × 10(13)/cm(2) at ± 12 V, a programming/erasing speed of 1 µs at ± 10 V, a 8% degradation of the memory window at ± 10 V after 10(4) programming/erasing cycles and a 32% losing of trapped charges after ten years. The difference among the activation energies of the trapped electrons in (Ta(2)O(5))(x)(TiO(2))(1−x) CTM devices indicates that the retention characteristics are dominated by the difference of energy level for the trap sites in each TTO CTM device.