Potentiality of trap charge effects and SiON induced interface defects in a-Si3N4/SiON based MIS structure for resistive NVM device

• A memory window of 4.6 V with high interface trap density is observed.
• The existences of trap states are revealed by the photoluminescence measurements.
• The resistive switching behavior is investigated by I–V characteristics.
• The reliability of NVM device is confirmed by its charge retention property.

Potential application of amorphous silicon nitride (a-Si3N4)/silicon oxy-nitride (SiON) film has been demonstrated as resistive non-volatile memory (NVM) device by studying the Al/Si3N4/SiON/p-Si metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) structure. The existence of several deep trap states was revealed by the photoluminescence characterizations. The bipolar resistive switching operation of this device was investigated by current–voltage measurements whereas the trap charge effect was studied in detail by hysteresis behavior of frequency dependent capacitance–voltage characteristics. A memory window of 4.6 V was found with the interface trap density being 6.4 × 1011 cm−2 eV−1. Excellent charge retention characteristics have been observed for the said MIS structure enabling it to be used as a reliable non-volatile resistive memory device.