Abstract:
Colloidal synthesis and size control of nickel (Ni) nanocrystals (NCs) below
10 nm are reported using a microwave synthesis method. The synthesised
colloidal NCs have been characterized using x-ray diffraction, transmission
electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). XRD analysis
highlights the face centred cubic crystal structure of synthesised NCs. The
size of NCs observed using TEM and DLS have a distribution between 2.6 nm
and 10 nm. Furthermore, atomic force microscopy analysis of spin-coated NCs
over a silicon dioxide surface has been carried out to identify an optimum spin
condition that can be used for the fabrication of a metal oxide semiconductor
(MOS) non-volatile memory (NVM) capacitor. Subsequently, the fabrication of
a MOS NVM capacitor is reported to demonstrate the potential application of
colloidal synthesized Ni NCs in NVM devices. We also report the capacitance–
voltage (C–V) and capacitance–time (C–t) response of the fabricated MOS
NVM capacitor. The C–V and C–t characteristics depict a large flat band
voltage shift (VFB) and high retention time, respectively, which indicate that
colloidal Ni NCs are excellent candidates for applications in next-generation
NVM devices.
