Droplet evaporation-induced ferritin self-assembled monolayer as a template for nanocrystal flash memory

Abstract
A nonvolatile nanocrystal (NC) memory containing a ferritin core was fabricated. A ferritin monolayer was formed through a droplet evaporation technique. High-pressure hydrogen ( HP - H 2 ) annealing effectively reduced iron oxide ( Fe 2 O 3 ) to form conductive iron NC. In addition, HP - H 2 annealing also improved memory characteristics by passivation of the interface states at Si ∕ Hf O 2 . The authors observed good memory characteristics, including fast program/erase (P/E) operation, a memory window of 1.75 V under ± 6 V , and a stable memory window up to 10 4 s at 85 ° C .