Direct exchange between silicon nanocrystals and tunnel oxide traps under illumination on single electron photodetector

In this paper we present the trapping of photogenerated charge carriers for 300 s resulted by their direct exchange under illumination between a few silicon nanocrystals ($ncs$-Si) embedded in an oxide tunnel layer (SiO$_{x = 1.5}$) and the tunnel oxide traps levels for a single electron photodetector (photo-SET or nanopixel). At first place, the presence of a photocurrent limited in the inversion zone under illumination in the I–V curves confirms the creation of a pair electron/hole (e-h) at high energy. This photogenerated charge carriers can be trapped in the oxide. Using the capacitance-voltage under illumination (the photo-CV measurements) we show a hysteresis chargement limited in the inversion area, indicating that the photo-generated charge carriers are stored at traps levels at the interface and within $ncs$-Si. The direct exchange of the photogenerated charge carriers between the interface traps levels and the $ncs$-Si contributed on the photo-memory effect for 300 s for our nanopixel at room temperature.