SiGe Nanocrystals Fabricated by One-Step Thermal Oxidation and Rapid Thermal Annealing

In this work, simple techniques are proposed to fabricate silicon-germanium memory capacitors by one-step thermal oxidation and/or rapid thermal annealing of polycrystalline-SiGe (poly-SiGe) deposited by a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition system. First, the thermal oxidation method can produce a top oxide layer via the oxidation of an amorphous-Si film, and a continuous SiGe crystalline layer is produced. Using the rapid thermal annealing method with its easy process control, individual SiGe nanocrystals are produced, resulting in an acceptable hysteresis window for flash-memory application. (C) 2008 The Electrochemical Society.