A new portrayal of electron and hole traps in amorphous silicon nitride

Trap centers in amorphous silicon nitride (a‐SiNx) have been considered to be amphoteric. We found two signals of Si3 3/4 Si0 and N3 3/4 Si0 (Si dangling bonds with an unpaired electron) by an electron‐spin‐resonance method, and estimated the hole trap density to be larger than the electron trap density by about one decade, using the nonvolatile memory devices. As a result, we propose a new portrayal in which electron/hole traps are at the interface between Si clusters and a‐SiNx bulk, and hole traps are at nitrogen vacancies in a‐SiNx bulk.

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