Cycling endurance of silicon{endash}oxide{endash}nitride{endash}oxide{endash}silicon nonvolatile memory stacks prepared with nitrided SiO{sub 2}/Si(100) interfaces
- Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, M/S 1084 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 (United States)
The effects of nitrided SiO{sub 2}/Si(100) interfaces upon cycling endurance in silicon{endash}oxide{endash}nitride{endash}oxide{endash}silicon (SONOS) nonvolatile memory transistors are investigated. Analysis of metal{endash}oxide{endash}silicon field-effect transistor subthreshold characteristics indicate cycling degradation to be a manifestation of interface trap generation at the tunnel oxide/silicon interface. After 10{sup 6} write/erase cycles, SONOS film stacks prepared with nitrided tunnel oxides exhibit enhanced cycling endurance over stacks prepared with non-nitrided tunnel oxides. If the capping oxide is formed by steam oxidation, rather than by deposition, SONOS stacks prepared with non-nitrided tunnel oxides exhibit endurance characteristics similar to stacks with nitrided tunnel oxides. For this case, a mechanism for latent nitridation of the tunnel oxide/silicon interface is proposed. {copyright} {ital 1999 American Institute of Physics.}
- OSTI ID:
- 362659
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 75, Issue 8; Other Information: PBD: Aug 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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