Metal control gate for sub-30nm floating gate NAND memory

This paper investigates the use of a metal control gate for sub 30 nm NAND flash memory. It is shown that polysilicon control gates are not effective at reduced feature sizes due to poor electrical conductivity. As the physical dimensions scale and the doping level of the polysilicon decreases, especially at the beginning of polysilicon deposition, the control gate plugs become electrically non-functional. This isThis paper investigates the use of a metal control gate for sub 30 nm NAND Flash memory. It is shown that polysilicon control gates are not effective at reduced feature sizes due to poor electrical conductivity. As the physical dimensions scale and the doping level of the polysilicon decreases, especially at the beginning of polysilicon deposition, the control gate plugs become electrically non-functional. This is very critical in the narrow control gate plug where the polysilicon can become depleted. A TiN control gate is proposed and implemented in a 48 nm technology. It is shown to eliminate the depletion effect and to have comparable electrical results to a polysilicon control cell. very critical in the narrow control gate plug where the polysilicon can become depleted. A TiN control gate is proposed and implemented in a 48 nm technology. It is shown to eliminate the depletion effect and to have comparable electrical results to a polysilicon control cell.