Temperature influence on nanocrystals embedded high-k nonvolatile C-V characteristics

The temperature influence on memory functions of the nanocrystalline ZnO embedded Zr-doped Hf O₂ high-k capacitor was investigated. Both the memory window and the trapped charge density increased with the increase of temperature. The temperature effect on hole trapping was observed at 125°C, but not at 25 or 75°C. The temperature effect on electron trapping was obvious above 25°C. The interface quality is greatly influenced by the temperature, which was detected on the leakage current density-gate voltage, capacitance-voltage (C-V), and conductance-gate voltage curves. The sample temperature affects the carrier generation and transport mechanisms, which are responsible for the memory function changes. © 2010 The Electrochemical Society.