Strain Engineering to Improve Data Retention Time in Nonvolatile Memory

Author

Arghavani, R. ; Derhacobian, N. ; Banthia, V. ; Balseanu, M. ; Ingle, N. ; MSaad, H. ; Venkataraman, S. ; Yieh, E. ; Yuan, Z. ; Xia, L.-Q. ; Krivokapic, Z. ; Aghoram, U. ; MacWilliams, K. ; Thompson, S. E.

Author_Institution

Appl. Mater. Inc., Santa Clara, CA

Volume

54

Issue

2

fYear

2007

Firstpage

362

Lastpage

365

Abstract

Experimental data show that tensile stress improves and compressive stress degrades retention time for nonvolatile memory (NVM) devices. External mechanical tensile stress and compressive stress are introduced into the NVM floating-gate and nitride trap based memories via four-point wafer bending. The enhanced retention time under tensile stress results from stress-altered changes in the SiO₂/Si barrier height and out-of-plane conductivity mass for floating-gate memories and from changes in the trap activation energy in nitride based memories

Keywords

semiconductor storage; semiconductor technology; silicon compounds; stress effects; SiO₂-Si; compressive stress; data retention time; floating-gate; four-point wafer bending; mechanical tensile stress; nitride trap; nonvolatile memory; out-of-plane conductivity; strain engineering; trap activation; Capacitive sensors; Compressive stress; Conductivity; Data engineering; Degradation; Electron traps; Logic devices; Nonvolatile memory; Tensile strain; Tensile stress; Compressive stress; data retention; nonvolatile memory (NVM); read current; strain; tensile stress;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2006.888827

Filename

4067171