Magnetron sputtered nc-Al/alpha-Al2O3 nanocomposite thin films for nonvolatile memory application.

In this paper, we developed nc-Al/a-Al2O3 nanocomposite thin films using magnetron sputtering. The nc-Al/a-Al2O3 films were sputtered on p-type Si substrates from pure Al target in gas mixture of Ar and O2. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscope studies confirm that the nanocrystalline Al are embedded in amorphous Al2O3 matrix thus nc-Al/ a-Al2O3 nanocomposite forms. This nanocomposite thin film exhibits memory effect as a result of charge trapping.