Merits and Demerits of Single Electron Effects in Ultrasmall Semiconductor Devices

Abstract

Anomalous telegraphic noise with four-level current fluctuations due to two interactive random telegraph signals (RTSs) in small-area metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) is reported. From the noise pattern and discussions on the charging energy of a trap, the existence of interactive traps is demonstrated. Furthermore, the problem of a floating-dot-gate memory cell is discussed from the viewpoint of the existence of interaction between traps, which implies that the threshold voltage could be affected by the spatial distribution of dots in a multi-dot floating-gate memory cell.