• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.250-253
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• 2013

In this paper, we fabricated 3D pillar type silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) devices for high density flash applications. To solve the limitation between erase speed and data retention of the conventional SONOS devices, bandgap-engineered (BE) tunneling oxide of oxide-nitride-oxide configuration is integrated with the 3D structure. In addition, the tunneling oxide is modulated by another method of $N_2$ ion implantation ($N_2$ I/I). The measured data shows that the BE-SONOS device has better electrical characteristics, such as a lower threshold voltage ($V_{\tau}$) of 0.13 V, and a higher $g_{m.max}$ of 18.6 ${\mu}A/V$ and mobility of 27.02 $cm^2/Vs$ than the conventional and $N_2$ I/I SONOS devices. Memory characteristics show that the modulated tunneling oxide devices have fast erase speed. Among the devices, the BE-SONOS device has faster program/erase (P/E) speed, and more stable endurance characteristics, than conventional and $N_2$ I/I devices. From the flicker noise analysis, however, the BE-SONOS device seems to have more interface traps between the tunneling oxide and silicon substrate, which should be considered in designing the process conditions. Finally, 3D structures, such as the pillar type BE-SONOS device, are more suitable for next generation memory devices than other modulated tunneling oxide devices.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.139-142
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• 2013

Silicon nanowire (SiNW) silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) flash memory devices were fabricated and their electrical characteristics were analyzed. Compared to planar SONOS devices, these SiNW SONOS devices have good program/erase (P/E) characteristics and a large threshold voltage ($V_T$) shift of 2.5 V in 1ms using a gate pulse of +14 V. The devices also show excellent immunity to short channel effects (SCEs) due to enhanced gate controllability, which becomes more apparent as the nanowire width decreases. This is attributed to the fully depleted mode operation as the nanowire becomes narrower. 3D TCAD simulations of both devices show that the electric field of the junction area is significantly reduced in the SiNW structure.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제15권10호
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• pp.831-837
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• 2002

Scaled SONOS transistors have been fabricated by 0.35$\mu\textrm{m}$ CMOS standard logic process. The thickness of stacked ONO(blocking oxide, memory nitride, tunnel oxide) gate insulators measured by TEM are 2.5 nm, 4.0 nm and 2.4 nm, respectively. The SONOS memories have shown low programming voltages of ${\pm}$8.5 V and long-term retention of 10-year Even after 2 ${\times}$ 10$\^$5/ program/erase cycles, the leakage current of unselected transistor in the erased state was low enough that there was no error in read operation and we could distinguish the programmed state from the erased states precisely The tight distribution of the threshold voltages in the programmed and the erased states could remove complex verifying process caused by over-erase in floating gate flash memory, which is one of the main advantages of the charge-trap type devices. A single power supply operation of 3 V and a high endurance of 1${\times}$10$\^$6/ cycles can be realized by the programming method for a flash-erased type EEPROM.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2002년도 하계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.54-57
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• 2002

In this study, a new programming method, to minimize the generation of Si-SiO$_2$ interface traps of scaled SONOS flash memory as a function of number of program/erase cycles has been proposed. In the proposed programming method, power supply voltage is applied to the gate, forward biased program voltage is applied to the source and the drain, while the substrate is left open, so that the program is achieved by Modified Fowler-Nordheim (MFN) tunneling of electron through the tunnel oxide over source and drain region. For the channel erase, erase voltage is applied to the gate, power supply voltage is applied to the substrate, and the source and drain are open. A single power supply operation of 3 V and a high endurance of 1${\times}$10$\^$6/ prograss/erase cycles can be realized by the proposed programming method. The asymmetric mode in which the program voltage is higher than the erase voltage, is more efficient than symmetric mode in order to minimize the degradation characteristics of scaled SONOS devices because electrical stress applied to the Si-SiO$_2$ interface is reduced by short programming time.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.5-10
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• 2003

In this study, a new programming method to minimize the generation of Si-SiO$_2$interface traps of SONOS nonvolatile memory device as a function of number of porgram/erase cycles was proposed. In the proposed programming method, power supply voltage is applied to the gate. forward biased program voltage is applied to the source and the drain, while the substrate is left open, so that the program is achieved by Modified Fowler-Nordheim(MFN) tunneling of electron through the tunnel oxide over source and drain region. For the channel erase, erase voltage is applied to the gate, power supply voltage is applied to the substrate, and the source and dram are left open. Also, the asymmetric mode in which the program voltage is higher than the erase voltage, is more efficient than symmetric mode in order to minimize the degradation characteristics or SONOS devices because electrical stress applied to the Si-SiO$_2$interface is reduced due to short program time.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.183-186
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• 2015

This research investigates the impact of charge spreading on the data retention of three-dimensional (3D) silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) flash memory where the charge trapping layer is shared along the cell string. In order to do so, this study conducts an electrical analysis of the planar SONOS test pattern where the silicon nitride charge storage layer is not isolated but extends beyond the gate electrode. Experimental results from the test pattern show larger retention loss in the devices with extended storage layers compared to isolated devices. This retention degradation is thought to be the result of an additional charge spreading through the extended silicon nitride layer along the width of the memory cell, which should be improved for the successful 3-D application of SONOS flash devices.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2009년도 하계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.97-98
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• 2009

Tunneling barrier engineered charge trap flash (TBE-CTF) memory capacitor were fabricated using the tunneling barrier engineering technique. Variable oxide thickness (VARIOT) barrier and CRESTED barrier consisting of thin $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$ dielectrics layers were used as engineered tunneling barrier. The charge trapping characteristic with different metal gates are also investigated. A larger memory window was achieved from the TBE-CTF memory with high workfunction metal gate.

• 반도체디스플레이기술학회지
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.138-142
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• 2019

As the NAND flash memory goes to 3D vertical Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon (SONOS) structure, the lateral charge migration can be critical in the reliability performance. Even more, with miniaturization of flash memory cell device, just a little movement of trapped charge can cause reliability problems. In this paper, we propose a method of predicting the trapped charge profile in the retention mode. Charge diffusivity in the charge trapping layer (Si₃N₄) was extracted experimentally, and the effect on the trapped charge profile was demonstrated by the simulation and experiment.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.155-165
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• 2010

As a promising candidate to replace the conventional floating gate flash memories, polysilicon-oxide-nitride-oxidesilicon (SONOS)-type nonvolatile semiconductor memories have been investigated widely in the past several years. SONOS-type memories have some advantages over the conventional floating gate flash memories, such as lower operating voltage, excellent endurance and compatibility with standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. However, their operating speed and date retention characteristics are still the bottlenecks to limit the applications of SONOS-type memories. Recently, various approaches have been used to make a trade-off between the operating speed and the date retention characteristics. Application of high-k dielectrics to SONOS-type memories is a predominant route. This article provides the state-of-the-art research progress of high-k dielectrics applicable to SONOS-type nonvolatile semiconductor memories. It begins with a short description of working mechanism of SONOS-type memories, and then deals with the materials' requirements of high-k dielectrics used for SONOS-type memories. In the following section, the microstructures of high-k dielectrics used as tunneling layers, charge trapping layers and blocking layers in SONOS-type memories, and their impacts on the memory behaviors are critically reviewed. The improvement of the memory characteristics by using multilayered structures, including multilayered tunneling layer or multilayered charge trapping layer are also discussed. Finally, this review is concluded with our perspectives towards the future researches on the high-k dielectrics applicable to SONOS-type nonvolatile semiconductor memories.

• 전자공학회논문지
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• 제50권11호
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• pp.219-225
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• 2013

본 논문은 소노스(SONOS) 형태의 타원형 게이트 올 어라운드(GAA) 구조를 갖는 플레쉬 셀의 프로그램과 삭제 특성을 채널의 이심률 변화에 대해 연구 하였다. 타원형 GAA SONOS 셀의 쓰기와 삭제에 대한 해석적 모델을 제안하고 평가하였다. 점진적 계단형 펄스 프로그램(ISPP)시 타원의 이심률이 증가할수록 인가 전압에 대해 문턱전압이 비선형적으로 변화한다. 이는 2차원 소노스 구조나 원형 3차원 GAA 구조에서 선형적 특성을 보이는 것과는 매우 다른 모습이다. ISPP 특성에 대한 모사의 결과는 실험적 결과와 잘 부합됨을 발견할 수 있다.