Vapor-solid-solid growth of NiSi₂ nanocrystals for memory application

NiSi2 nanocrystals were synthesized by vapor-solid-solid process, introducing SiH4 onto Ni catalyst dots on a SiO2 substrate, for nonvolatile memory applications. Electron microscopy was used to characterize the morphology and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization confirmed the nature of these NiSi2 nanocrystals. mosfet memory with NiSi2 nanocrystal as floating gate was fabricated and fast programming/erasing speed, long retention, and 105 times of operation endurance performances were demonstrated. © 2010 IEEE.