Charge detrapping and dielectric breakdown of nanocrystalline zinc oxide embedded zirconium-doped hafnium oxide high-k dielectrics for nonvolatile memories

Charge detrapping and dielectric breakdown phenomena of the nanocrystalline zinc oxide embedded zirconium-doped hafnium oxide high-k dielectric have been investigated. Charges were loosely or strongly retained at the nanocrystal sites which were saturated above a certain stress voltage. From the polarity change of the relaxation current, it was confirmed that the high-k part of the dielectric film was broken under a high gate bias voltage condition while the nanocrystals still retained charges. These charges were gradually released. These unique characteristics are important to the performance and reliability of the memory device. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3429590]