Nanostructure band engineering of gadolinium oxide nanocrystal memory by CF₄ plasma treatment

Nanostructure band engineering accomplished by CF₄ plasma treatment on Gd₂ O₃ nanocrystal memory was investigated. Under the CF₄ plasma treatment, the fluorine was incorporated into the Gd₂ O₃ film and resulted in the modification of energy-band. A physical model was proposed to explain the relationship between the built-in electric field in Gd₂O₃ nanostructure and the improved program/erase (P/E) efficiency and data retention characteristics. The memory window of the Gd₂ O₃ -NC memory with CF ₄ plasma treatment and postplasma annealing was increased to 3.4 V after 10⁴ P/E cycling. It is demonstrated that the Gd₂ O₃ -NC memory with nanostructure band engineering is promising for future nonvolatile memory application.