Intrinsic ultrasmall nanoscale silicon turns n-/p-type with SiO₂/Si₃N₄-coating.

ABSTRACT: Impurity doping of ultrasmall nanoscale (usn) silicon (Si) currently used in ultralarge scale integration (ULSI) faces serious miniaturization challenges below the 14 nm technology node such as dopant out-diffusion and inactivation by clustering in Si-based field-effect transistors (FETs). Moreover, self-purification and massively increased ionization energy cause doping to fail for Si nano-crystals (NCs) showing quantum confinement. To introduce electron- (n-) or hole- (p-) type conductivity, usn-Si may not require doping, but an energy shift of electronic states with respect to the vacuum energy between different regions of usn-Si. We show in theory and experiment that usn-Si can experience a considerable energy offset of electronic states by embedding it in silicon dioxide (SiO₂

SUBMITTER: Konig D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6122087 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature