Channel Fowler-Nordheim Tunneling Research Articles

A Novel P-Channel Flash Electrically-Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) Cell with Oxide-Nitride-Oxide (ONO) as Split Gate Channel Dielectric

A novel p-channel flash electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) cell, which is programmed/erased via channel Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling, is described in this paper. Channel FN tunneling is a high efficiency and low-power-consumption approach to flash cell operation. High endurance up to 1 M cycles was demonstrated with small window closure. The new flash cell exhibits good reliability which is quite insensitive to disturb or over program. In order to simplify the process, the interpoly dielectric and select gate dielectrics are fabricated using the same oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) stack during formation of this cell. Hence, this cell shows good potential for achieving simple processing, low power consumption and negligible disturbance during operation.

Novel bi-directional tunneling program/erase NOR (BiNOR)-type flash EEPROM

This paper presents a novel flash memory cell, BiNOR, suitable for high-speed, low-power, and high-performance application. The proposed BiNOR structure allows random access, channel Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling program/erase in a NOR-type array (previously, channel FN tunneling program/erase could only be implemented in a NAND array). Using the designated localized P-well structure, BiNOR realizes the hot hole free, low-power bi-directional channel FN tunneling program and erase, and alleviates the oxide instability induced during source erase in the NOR-type flash memory.

An enhanced erase mechanism during channel Fowler-Nordheim tunneling in flash EPROM memory devices

An enhanced erase behaviour observed during the channel Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling erase operation was examined in details. This enhanced erase occurs when a high p-well voltage is used, with the source and drain junctions of the cell left floating, during the erase operation. Our investigation indicates that the floating source and drain take on a high junction voltage during the p-well voltage transient. This causes transient band-to-band tunneling, and in some cases, junction avalanche breakdown, to occur in the source and drain junctions. As a result, hot-hole injection into the floating gate takes place to create this enhanced erase phenomenon.