Synthesis, photoluminescence and charge storage characteristics of isolated silver nanocrystals embedded in Al2O3 gate dielectric

Silver nanocrystals with the average diameter down to 4 nm were synthesized in Al2O3 matrix on Si substrate by pulse laser deposition followed by annealing at 400 °C in N2 ambient. A photoluminescence (PL) band centered at 2.27 eV was recorded. A model based on the PL spectrum induced by the radiative recombination of sp-band electrons with d-band holes in the silver nanocrystals is suggested. Metal-insulator-semiconductor structures with Silver nanocrystals embedded in Al2O3 gate dielectric were fabricated. Large hysteresis behaviour in terms of large memory window and good data retention were characterized by capacitance–voltage and capacitance–time measurements.