Cycling endurance of silicon{endash}oxide{endash}nitride{endash}oxide{endash}silicon nonvolatile memory stacks prepared with nitrided SiO{sub 2}/Si(100) interfaces

Journal Article · Sun Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.124616· OSTI ID:362659

Habermehl, S; Nasby, R D; Rightley, M J ^[1]

---

1. 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, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 75; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS
INTERFACES
MEMORY DEVICES
MOSFET
NITRIDATION
OXIDATION
SILICON
SILICON OXIDES
TUNNEL EFFECT