Temperature Effect on Dielectric Breakdown and Charges Retention of Nanocrystalline Cadmium Selenide Embedded Zr-Doped HfO2 High-k Dielectric Thin Film

Temperature influence on the dielectric breakdown and charges retention of the nanocrystalline cadmium selenide embedded high-k dielectric thin film has been investigated. The embedding of nanocrystals in the high-k stack strongly enhanced the charge storage capability. Metal oxide semiconductor capacitors composed of this kind of dielectric structure showed the two-step breakdown phenomenon corresponding to failures of the interface and the bulk high-k layers, separately. The failure process was accelerated by the rise of temperature due to increases of defect states and defect effective conduction radii. The memory window was changed with the rise of temperature due to the competitive charge trapping and detrapping mechanisms. This paper provided important information on the practical application of this novel type of memory device.