Memory characteristics and the tunneling mechanism of Au nanocrystals embedded in a DyScO₃ high-k gate dielectric layer

DyScO₃ thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition have been attempted to serve as a dielectric layer in the Au nanocrystal (NC) floating gate memory structure of DyScO₃ /Au NCs/DyScO₃ trilayers on Si. The charging effect of pulsed-laser deposited Au NCs embedded inside the DyScO₃ thin films is manifested by the significant threshold voltage shift of 4.5 V, i.e. of memory window. The tunneling mechanism in this floating gate memory structure is also studied. These results may provide an alternative approach for utilizing DyScO₃ in the floating gate memory structure.