Ds Golubovic

Experimental Characterization of the Vertical Position of the Trapped Charge in Si Nitride-Based Nonvolatile Memory Cells

We present a broad set of experiments on silicon nitride-based memories aimed at the investigation of the vertical position of the charge trapped in the nitride layer of silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-semiconductor (SONOS) memories during program and erase in the tunneling regime. The results obtained for SONOS devices with conventional oxide-nitride-oxide and oxide-nitride-oxide-nitride-oxide gate stacks, as well as with high-top dielectric, have been validated by comparing different characterization techniques. It has been shown that, for SONOS cells, the charge centroid is located in the center of the silicon nitride layer, and its position is quite insensitive to the program or erase conditions and to the gate-stack composition.

Experimental and Simulation Analysis of Program/Retention Transients in Silicon Nitride-Based NVM Cells

A new characterization technique and an improved model for charge injection and transport through ONO gate stacks are used to investigate the program/retention sequence of silicon nitride-based (SONOS/TANOS) nonvolatile memories. The model accounts for drift-diffusion transport in the conduction band of silicon nitride (SiN). A priori assumptions on the spatial distribution of the charge at the beginning of the program/retention operations are not needed. We show that the carrier transport in the SiN layer impacts the spatial distribution of the trapped charge and, consequently, several aspects of program and retention transients. A few model improvements allow us to reconcile the apparent discrepancy between the values of silicon nitride trap energies extracted from program and retention experiments, thus reducing the number of model parameters.

Magnetically induced splitting of a giant vortex state in a mesoscopic superconducting disk

The nucleation of superconductivity in a superconducting disk with a Co/Pt magnetic triangle was studied. We demonstrate that when the applied magnetic field is parallel to the magnetization of the triangle, the giant vortex state of vorticity three splits into three individual F0-vortices, due to a pronounced influence of the C3 symmetry of the magnetic triangle. As a result of a strong pinning of the three vortices by the triangle, their configuration remains stable in a broad range of applied magnetic fields. For sufficiently high fields, F0-vortices merge and the nucleation occurs through the giant vortex state. The theoretical analysis of this novel reentrant behaviour at the phase boundary, obtained within the Ginzburg - Landau formalism, is in excellent agreement with the experimental data.

Impact of the charge transport in the conduction band on the retention of Si-nitride based memories

An improved model for charge injection through ONO gate stacks, that comprises carrier transport in the conduction band of the silicon nitride (Si3N4), is used to investigate the program/retention sequence of Si3N4 based (SONOS/TANOS) non volatile memories without making assumptions on the initial distribution of the trapped charge at the beginning of retention. We show that carrier transport in the Si3N4 layer impacts the spatial charge distribution and consequently several other aspects of the retention transient. The interpretation of the Arrehnius plots of the high temperature retention data, typically used to infer the trap depth from the retention activation energy is discussed. The model provides a simple explanation of the small threshold voltage increase observed during retention experiments of thick tunnel oxide ONO stacks.

0 and π phase Josephson coupling through an insulating barrier with magnetic impurities

We have studied the temperature and field dependencies of the critical current

Nucleation of superconductivity in an Al mesoscopic disk with magnetic dot

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Little-Parks effect in a superconducting loop with a magnetic dot

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Plain superconducting films as magnetic field tunable two-dimensional rectifiers

\mathrm{Nb}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{0.1}{\mathrm{Si}}_{0.9}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{Nb}

Influence of the stray field of a magnetic dot on the nucleation of superconductivity in a disk

Josephson junction with a tunneling barrier formed by a paramagnetic insulator. We demonstrate that in these junctions coexistence of both the 0 and the

Programme and retention characteristics of SONOS memory arrays with layered tunnel barrier

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