Process reliability development for nonvolatile memories

Author

Dunn, Christopher ; Hefley, P. ; Pope, Simon ; Chong, Darrel ; Desai, Shaishav ; Patel, Pragati ; Baker, Dannon ; Dolby, D. ; Strauss, Tobias ; Gunturi, Sarma ; Wright, Paul ; Sudak, P.

Author_Institution

Texas Instrum. Inc., Houston, TX, USA

fYear

1993

Firstpage

133

Lastpage

146

Abstract

Reliability development during the process design of 0.8- mu m and 1.0- mu m nonvolatile memory technology is discussed. The process development of the passivation system, the polysilicon layer, and the gate oxide are all analyzed. Passivation reliability in terms of data retention, humidity performance, and erasability is presented for various passivation options. A new failure mechanism associated with electronic emission from poly residue is highlighted, and the poly process optimization to eliminate this mechanism is shown. The effect of reoxidized nitrided dielectrics on hot carrier minimization is also evaluated, and the optimal nitridation are reoxidation conditions to achieve hot carrier immunity are presented.<>

Keywords

EPROM; circuit reliability; environmental degradation; failure analysis; hot carriers; integrated circuit technology; integrated memory circuits; nitridation; oxidation; passivation; 0.8 micron; 1 micron; EPROM; Si; data retention; electronic emission; erasability; failure mechanism; gate oxide; hot carrier immunity; hot carrier minimization; humidity performance; nonvolatile memories; optimal nitridation; optimal reoxidation; passivation system; polysilicon layer; process design; process reliability; reoxidized nitrided dielectrics; Dielectric losses; Etching; Failure analysis; Flash memory; Hot carriers; Humidity; Instruments; Nonvolatile memory; Passivation; Process design;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability Physics Symposium, 1993. 31st Annual Proceedings., International

Conference_Location

Atlanta, GA, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0782-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RELPHY.1993.283290

Filename

283290