Performance Improvement of a Nonvolatile UV TD Sensor Using SAHAOS with a High Temperature Annealed, Partially Nano-Crystallized Trapping Layer

This study shows that a silicon⁻aluminum oxide⁻hafnium aluminum oxide-silicon oxide⁻silicon capacitor device with a high temperature pre-metal-anneal-treated and partially-nanocrystallized hafnium aluminum oxide, (hereafter PNC-SAHAOS) can successfully increase the performance of a nonvolatile ultraviolet radiation total dose (hereafter UV TD) sensor. The experimental results show that the UV-induced threshold voltage V_T shift of PNC-SAHAOS was 10 V after UV TD 100 mW·s/cm² irradiation. The UV-induced charge density of PNC-SAHAOS is almost eight times that of amorphous silicon⁻aluminum oxide⁻silicon nitride⁻silicon dioxide⁻silicon SANOS. Moreover, the charge fading rate of ten-years retention on PNC-SAHAOS, even at 85 °C, is below 10%. At 85 °C, the charge fading rate of ten-years retention on amorphous SANOS is almost twice that on PNC-SAHAOS. These results strongly suggest that PNC-SAHAOS could be the most promising candidate for next-generation nonvolatile UV TD sensor technology.