Effects of the Localization of the Charge in Nanocrystal Memory Cells

Author

Gasperin, Alberto ; Amat, Esteve ; Porti, Marc ; Martin-Martinez, J. ; Nafria, M. ; Aymerich, Xavier ; Paccagnella, Alessandro

Author_Institution

Dipt. di Ing. dell´´Inf., Univ. di Padova, Padova, Italy

Volume

56

Issue

10

fYear

2009

Firstpage

2319

Lastpage

2326

Abstract

In this paper, we present a peculiar characteristic of nanocrystal (NC) memory (NCM) cells: The programming (P) windows measured in linear and subthreshold regions are different. A floating-gate flash memory cell with a similar structure does not show the same behavior, and the P window (PW) is independent of the current level of the extrapolation, as expected. By performing 2-D TCAD simulations, we demonstrated that this characteristic of NCM cells is due to the localization of the charge into the NCs. We investigate the correlation between the difference of the PWs in linear and subthreshold regions and the number, width, and position of the NCs.

Keywords

circuit CAD; circuit simulation; flash memories; nanotechnology; 2D TCAD simulation; floating-gate flash memory cell; nanocrystal memory cells; programming window; subthreshold regions; Extrapolation; Flash memory; Flash memory cells; Leakage current; Linear programming; Nanocrystals; Nonvolatile memory; Phase change materials; Silicon; Threshold voltage; Charge trapping; Flash memories; TCAD; floating gate (FG); nanocrystal (NC) memories (NCMs); nonvolatile memories; simulations;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2009.2028404

Filename

5238630