Title :
Insight of stress effect on the ONO stack layer in a sONOS-type flash memory cell
Author :
Yeh, C.C. ; Liao, Y.Y. ; Wang, Tahui ; Tsai, W.J. ; Lu, T.C. ; Kao, H.L. ; Ou, T.F. ; Chen, M.S. ; Chen, Y.J. ; Lai, E.K. ; Shih, Y.H. ; Ting, WenChi ; Ku, Y. H Joseph ; Lu, Chih-Yuan
Author_Institution :
Technol. Dev. Center, Macronix Int. Co.,Lt, Hsin-Chu
Abstract :
The stress effect on the ONO stack layer in a two-bit SONOS-type memory cell is investigated. Our results show that P/E cycles induced stress will generate extra nitride, oxide, and interface traps in the ONO stack layer. Besides, these stress created traps are unstable and will be annealed by additional thermal treatment. Storage electrons escape from stress-created nitride and oxide traps and the trap annealing effects are root causes of charge loss in a SONOS cell
Keywords :
annealing; electrons; flash memories; integrated circuit reliability; interface states; stress effects; ONO stack layer; P/E cycles induced stress; SONOS cell; charge loss; flash memory cell; interface traps; oxide traps; storage electrons; stress effect; stress-created nitride; thermal treatment; trap annealing effects; Annealing; Channel hot electron injection; Degradation; Electron emission; Electron traps; Flash memory cells; SONOS devices; Temperature; Testing; Thermal stresses;
Conference_Titel :
Reliability Physics Symposium Proceedings, 2006. 44th Annual., IEEE International
Conference_Location :
San Jose, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-9498-4
Electronic_ISBN :
0-7803-9499-2
DOI :
10.1109/RELPHY.2006.251327
