Memory effects of nonvolatile memory devices with a floating gate fabricated utilizing Ag nanoparticles embedded into a polymethylmethacrylate layer.

Nonvolatile memory devices based on a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) layer containing Ag nanoparticles were formed by using a spin coating method. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images showed that Ag nanoparticles were randomly distributed in the PMMA layer. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves for the Al/Ag nanoparticles embedded in a PMMA layer/p-Si(100) device at 300 K showed a hysteresis with a large flat-band voltage shift, indicative of the Ag nanoparticles acting as the charge storage in the memory device. The magnitude of the flat-band voltage shift for the memory devices increased with increasing Ag nanoparticle concentration. The operating mechanisms for the writing and the erasing processes for the Al/Ag nanoparticles embedded in a PMMA layer/p-Si(100) device are described on the basis of the C-V results and electronic structures.