A scaling methodology for oxide-nitride-oxide interpoly dielectric for EPROM applications

Author

Pan, Cheng-Sheng ; Wu, Kenneth J. ; Freiberger, Philip P. ; Chatterjee, Ajay ; Sery, George

Author_Institution

Intel Corp., Santa Clara, CA, USA

Volume

37

Issue

6

fYear

1990

fDate

6/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1439

Lastpage

1443

Abstract

This scaling scheme is based on a charge retention model which successfully explains the observed charge loss phenomena of an advanced erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) cell with an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) film as the interpoly dielectric. It is shown that there are three distinct phases in EPROM charge retention characteristics. The main sources of charge loss are charge movement in the nitride and charge leakage out of the ONO film. The charge loss can be dramatically reduced by thinning the nitride and thickening the top and bottom oxides. The resultant interpoly ONO film shows much smaller current leakage and superior charge retention capability

Keywords

EPROM; MOS integrated circuits; dielectric thin films; integrated circuit technology; integrated memory circuits; leakage currents; silicon compounds; EPROM applications; ONO film; SiO₂-Si₃N₄-SiO₂; charge loss phenomena; charge retention characteristics; charge retention model; current leakage; erasable programmable read-only memory; floating gate EPROM; oxide-nitride-oxide interpoly dielectric; scaling methodology; scaling scheme; sources of charge loss; Crystallization; Design for quality; Dielectric losses; EPROM; Electron traps; Leakage current; Nonvolatile memory; Oxidation; Semiconductor device modeling; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.106238

Filename

106238