Electrical properties of metal-oxide semiconductor nano-particle device

We have studied the electrical transport properties of two types of devices utilizing metal-oxide semiconductor nano-particles, Cu2O and Fe2O3. The metal-oxide nano-particles are embedded in a polyimide matrix through chemical reaction between the metal thin film and polyamic acid as a precursor of polyimide. To test the electron tunneling via nano-particles, Au nano-electrodes are fabricated on a SiO2/Si substrate with a 30 nm gap by electron-beam lithography. A single electron tunneling behavior was apparent in the devices with Cu2O nano-particle inserted into the nano-gap electrodes. Also, a memory effect was measured in a floating-gated memory device structure with Fe2O3 nano-particles embedded in a polyimide matrix.