A novel P-channel nitride-trapping nonvolatile memory device with excellent reliability properties

A novel P-channel nitride trapping nonvolatile memory device is studied. The device uses a P+-poly gate to reduce gate injection during channel erase, and a relatively thick tunnel oxide (> 5 nm) to prevent charge loss. The programming is carried out by low-power band-to-band tunneling induced hot-electron (BTBTHE) injection. For the erase, self-convergent channel erase is used to expel the electrons out of nitride. Experimental results show that this p-channel device is immune to read disturb due to the large potential barrier for hole tunneling. Excellent P/E cycling endurance and retention properties are demonstrated. This p-channel device shows potential for high-density NAND-type array application with high-programming throughput (> 10 Mb/sec).