Light emission and floating gate memory characteristics of germanium nanocrystals

摘要

We report Ge nanocrystals (NCs) based dual functional light emitting and metal insulator semiconductor (MIS) flash memory devices, fabricated by rf sputtering. Transmission electron micrographs revealed the formation of spherically shaped Ge NCs. We have observed broad electroluminescence (EL) around 760 nrn, which is attributed to electron-hole recombination in quantum confined Ge NCs. The dependence of integrated EL intensity on drive currents has also been studied. An anti-clockwise hysteresis behaviour is observed in capacitance-voltage measurements of MIS devices for different sweep voltages, indicating net electron trapping in NC based floating gates.