Electrical properties of composite films with silicon nanocrystals in the insulating matrix

The electrical properties of nanocomposite SiO2(Si) films containing Si nanoclusters have been investigated. The films were formed by oxide assisted growth that included ion plasma sputtering (IPS) of Si target and following high temperature annealing. It was determined that electrical conductivity of the films correspond to the mechanism of hopping conductivity with variable hopping length through the traps near the Fermi level (Mott mechanism) due to the large number of silicon dangling bonds in the dielectric matrix. The peculiarities of charge capture in nanocomposite SiO2(Si) films for their application as the medium for charge storage in memory cells have been investigated by C-V method. The good charge storage possibility of SiO2(Si) films formed by IPS deposition with followed temperature annealing has been observed. The negative differential capacitance has been revealed in conditions of semiconductor surface accumulation. The physical model for explanation of the negative differential capacitance of MIS structures with nanocomposite SiO2(Si) films as the dielectric has been proposed. The model is based on the parallel conjunction of the oxide capacitance and nanocrystals capacitance.