Characteristics distribution of narrow channel MOSFET memories with silicon nano-crystal floating gates

MOSFET memories with silicon nano-crystal floating gates have recently attracted much attention as future memory devices with low power consumption and high writing endurance. In order to obtain higher packing densities, the small dimension of memory devices is essential. It has been reported that the threshold voltage shift becomes larger as the channel width of MOSFET memory is narrower. However, it is easily speculated that as the channel width becomes narrower, the distribution of threshold voltage shift also becomes larger. In this paper, the width dependence of threshold voltage shift and its distribution is evaluated in narrow channel MOSFET memories with silicon nano-crystal floating gates. It is indicated that the precise control of silicon nano-crystal distribution is necessary for small memory devices.