Remarkable charge-trapping performance based in Zr0.5Hf0.5O2 with nanocrystal Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 blocking layer for nonvolatile memory device

Two kinds of charge trapping memory device with Au/Zr0.5Hf0.5O2(ZHO)/SiO2/p-Si and Au/Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3(BST)/Zr0.5Hf0.5O2/SiO2/p-Si structure were fabricated and investigated. The double BST/ZHO films exhibit a larger memory window of 7.36 V under ±14 V sweeping voltages in its C-V curve and the device has good charge retention properties with only small charge loss of ∼5% after more than 104 s. The good characteristics are attributed to the inter-diffusion between BST and ZHO where more deep defect sites were created after RTA treatment, which provides high potential barriers for the trapped charges to tunnel back to the silicon substrate. Furthermore, the nanocrystal in the BST layer increases the tunneling barrier of tunneling current into the gate and effectively restrains the leakage of storage charge from blocking layer, which improves the charge retention characteristic.