Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, we have studied the effect of annealing under slightly oxidizing ambient (N2+O2) on the structural and electrical characteristics of a limited number of silicon nanoparticles embedded in an ultra-thin SiO2 layer. These nanoparticles were synthesized by ultra-low-energy (1 keV) ion implantation and annealing. Specific experimental methods have been used to characterize the ncs populations. They include transmission electron microscopy (TEM) Fresnel imaging for evaluating the distances and widths of interest and spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) using the spectrum-imaging mode of a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) to measure the size... 

In this paper, we present a study on the contribution of silicon nanocrystals to the electrical transport characteristics of large (100 μm × 100 μm) and small (100 nm × 100 nm) metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors at room temperature. A layer of silicon nanocrystals is synthesized within the oxide of these capacitors by ultra-low energy ion implantation and annealing. Several features including negative differential resistance (NDR), sharp current peaks and random telegraph signal (RTS) are demonstrated in the current-voltage and current-time characteristics of these capacitors. These features have been associated to charge storage in silicon nanocrystals and to the resulting Coulomb...