Hole trapping capability of silicon carbonitride charge trap layers

We have evaluated the hole trapping capability of the silicon carbonitride (SiCN) dielectric film for application in metal-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (MONOS)-type non-volatile memory devices. After a great number of holes were injected to the SiCN charge trap layer of memory capacitors at high applied voltages, the flat-band voltage shift ΔV fb,h of the capacitors was saturated and the charge centroid location of holes trapped in the SiCN layer was found to reach at 1.8-2.0 nm from the blocking oxide-charge trap layer interface. Using the obtained ΔV fb,h and charge centroid values, the maximum density of holes trapped in the SiCN layer was estimated to be 1.2 × 1013 holes/cm2, which was higher than that trapped in a silicon nitride charge trap layer (=1.0 × 1013 holes/cm2). It is concluded that the high density of trapped holes caused large ΔV fb,h in the memory capacitors with the SiCN layer.