Resonant tunneling of Si nanocrystals embedded in Al2O3 matrix synthesized by vacuum electron-beam co-evaporation

Abstract

High vacuum electron-beam co-evaporation, followed by ${\mathrm{N}}_2$ annealing at 500 °C is used for preparing of silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) embedded in ${\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ dielectric matrix. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy are used to investigate the structures of $\mathrm{Si}+{\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ films and estimate the mean diameter of the Si NCs. The electrical properties of the diode containing Si NCs embedded in ${\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ are studied at room temperature and resonant tunneling effect with large voltage gap is observed. A circuit model based on resonant tunneling is proposed to simulate the measured $\mathrm{I–V}$ curve.