Electron programing and hole erasing in silicon nanocrystal Flash memories with fin field-effect transistor architecture

Abstract

We investigated the feasibility of electron programing and hole erasing in silicon nanocrystal Flash memory cells with fin field-effect transistor architecture having ultrashort channels (90nm). Experiments show that, by choosing a proper program/erase condition, very large threshold voltage windows can be achieved, compatible with the needs of multilevel cells. These performances are coupled to excellent retention at high temperature. The obtained results evidence that hole trapping is less affected by electric field and temperature stress compared to electron trapping. Qualitative explanations for this behavior are given.

Charge-Trapping Non-Volatile Memories

“…The first FinFETs with NCs (see Fig. 5.9), called FinFLASH, was reported by Corso et al (2008), Lombardo et al (2007) and Razafindramora et al (2007). They investigated the electron programming by F-N tunneling and the hole erasing by hot-hole injection in Si nanocrystal FinFLASH devices with ultrashort channels (90 nm).…”

Modeling of lateral charge transfer in Si nanocrystals in SiO2 thin film

“…Si nanocrystals (nc-Si) embedded in SiO 2 thin films have attracted extensive research due to their applications in light-emitting device [1][2][3][4] (LED), and nonvolatile memory. [5][6][7][8] For nonvolatile memory application, nc-Si is usually confined in a single layer as the charge storage element. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Due to its discrete nature, it was always assumed that there is negligible lateral charge diffusion between two neighboring devices.…”

“…[5][6][7][8] For nonvolatile memory application, nc-Si is usually confined in a single layer as the charge storage element. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Due to its discrete nature, it was always assumed that there is negligible lateral charge diffusion between two neighboring devices. However, this assumption is not always true if the nc-Si density approaches such a high level that trapped charge can diffuse to neighboring nc-Si.…”