Impact of correlated generation of oxide defects on SILC and breakdown distributions

A three-dimensional Monte Carlo model for analysis of the reliability of flash memory arrays is developed, and applied to thin tunnel oxide (t_ox = 5 nm) samples. Good agreement between experimental data and simulation results are obtained, assuming a correlated defect generation in the tunnel oxide of our samples as evidenced in (Ielmini et al., 2004). The impact of correlated defect generation on dielectric breakdown is also addressed by means of a percolation model. It is shown that correlated generation provides no significant degradation of the breakdown lifetime with respect to Poisson statistics.