Polarity‐Selective Engineering of In‐Gap States in Amorphous Silicon Nitride via Distinct Structural and Electronic Origins
ABSTRACT Precise control of trap states in amorphous dielectrics requires identifying the fundamentally different physical origins of hole and electron trapping. Here, in amorphous silicon nitride (a‑SiN x ), we demonstrate a dual‐origin mechanism where the two trap polarities arise from decoupled structural and electronic mechanisms, enabling polarity‐selective engineering of charge storage behavior. Multi‐spectroscopic characterization reveals that hole traps are dictated by structural disorder, where Si‐rich nanoclusters form a percolating network whose cluster‐size statistics exhibit power‐law scaling characteristic of disordered connectivity. In contrast, electron traps are governed by electronic‐level alignment, where Hf incorporation lowers the Fermi level, activates deep in‐gap states, and introduces additional shallow levels near the conduction‐band edge—without perturbing the optimized nanocluster states. By linking structural topology and electronic alignment to polarity‐resolved trapping, this work establishes a unified physical picture of trap polarity in disordered dielectrics and provides a practical design route for next‐generation charge‐trap memories and amorphous nitride/oxide electronic systems.
Authors
- Kwangmin Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2749-8932)
- Soobang Kim
- Kyu-Myung Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9083-0275)
- Gyungtae Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7137-7911)
- Guk-Hyon Yon
- Jinwoo Byun
- Jwasoon Kim
- Minseon Gu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7303-8689)
- Yongsup Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8935-4221)
- Won Ja Min (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0557-0251)
- Moonsup Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0993-040X)
- Xuan Au Nguyen
- Young Jun Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5538-0643)
- Young Dong Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4365-4544)
- Eunjip Choi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8745-9866)
- Tae Jung Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8815-7560)
- H. S. Ahn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6678-8258)
- Hyun Don Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3217-0145)
- Yun Chang Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9840-4617)
- Hyung Joon Kim
- HanMei Choi
- Seungchul Choi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1549-6964)
- Da Mi Kwon
- Moohyun Kim
- Sangwoo Nam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5163-8114)
- Hyun Su Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5072-8861)
- HaeJoon Hahm
Institutions
- University of Seoul (KR)
- Samsung (South Korea) (KR)
- Kyung Hee University (KR)
- Seoul Semiconductor (South Korea) (KR)
- National NanoFab Center (KR)
- Samsung Electronics (South Korea) (KR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2026-10-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.76480
- Primary Topic
- Semiconductor materials and devices
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00