Modulation on interfacial states for the improved charge storage performance in HfO2 matrix embedded CoO nanoparticles-based memory capacitors

The surface defect and interfacial states in nanoparticles have strong carrier trapping capacity and are closely related to the charge storage capacity and life of nanoparticles memory devices. In this work, solid and hollow CoO nanoparticles confined in amorphous HfO₂ high dielectric thin film with similar size and density were synthesized and characterized, and the effect of interfacial state regulation of nanoparticles on charge storage performance of memory capacitors was studied by comparing the experimental data of the two samples. A larger memory window was observed in the memory capacitor based on hollow CoO nanoparticles comparing to the solid one, which is attributed to an abundant of defects originated from the surface and grain boundaries of CoO nanoparticles with hollow structure. Artificially controlling surface defects and interface states of nanoparticles from the nano-floating gate memory is of great significance in the development of memory devices.