Low voltage hot-carrier programming of ultra-scaled SOI finflash memories

Abstract

In this paper, we present a deep investigation of ultra-scaled Finflash memories, fabricated on Silicon on Insulator (SOI) substrate, with Silicon NanoCrystal (Si-NC) or nitride layers acting as storage nodes. Electrical characteristics of devices with channel length (LG) as short as 30 nm, and fin width (WFIN) as narrow as 10 nm are shown. Effective Channel Hot Electron (CHE) writing with sub-3.2 V drain biases (i.e. DeltaVTH=3V at VG/VD/tstress=9V/2.5V/100 mus), as well as Hot Hole Injection (HHI) erasing with sub-4.5V drain biases are demonstrated. Finally, fully three dimensional Monte Carlo simulations, coupled with an original semi-analytical approach, allow us to give a qualitative explanation of the obtained experimental data.