Dependence of charge trapping and tunneling on the silicon-nitride (Si ₃N₄) thickness for tunnel barrier engineered nonvolatile memory applications

Charge trapping and tunneling characteristics of silicon-nitride (Si3 N4) layer with various thicknesses were investigated for applications of tunnel barrier engineered nonvolatile memory (NVM). A critical thickness of Si3 N4 layer for suppressing the charge trapping and enhancing the tunneling sensitivity of tunnel barrier were developed. Also, the charge trap centroid and charge trap density were extracted by constant current stress method. As a result, the optimization of Si3 N4 thickness considerably improved the performances of NVM.