Suspended Gate Silicon Nanodots Memory

Themes:

Nanoelectronics, MEMs and NEMs, Quantum Electronics and Spintronics

Funding:

CONACyT, Mexico

As one of promising candidates for a scalable non-volatile memory, we proposed a new suspended-gate silicon nanodot memory (SGSNM) by co-integrating nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) and conventional MOSFETs. The SGSNM consists of a MOSFET as readout, silicon nanodots (SiNDs) as a floating gate (FG), and a movable suspended gate (SG) which is isolated from the FG by an air gap and a thin oxide layer. The advantages of the SGSNM cell over the typical flash memory include high speed programming/erasing operations, virtually no gate leakage current and therefore a serious non-volatility, thanks to the presence of the air gap except for the program/erase processes. For programming the SGSNM cell, a negative gate voltage is applied, and the SG is pulled-in on the FG layer, resulting in electron injection from the SG into the FG. For erasing the cell, a positive voltage is applied, and the stored electrons are extracted from the FG.

Primary investigators

• magr07r
• hm2
• Yoshishige Tsuchiya

Partners

• Hitachi Central Research Laboratory
• Tokyo Institute of Technology

Associated research groups

• Nano Research Group
• Southampton Nanofabrication Centre