Improvement of Interpoly Dielectric Characteristics by Plasma Nitridation and Oxidation for Future nand Flash Memory
- Resource Type
- Periodical
- Authors
- Ho, C. Y.; Lien, C.; Sakamoto, Y.; Yang, R. J.; Fijita, H.; Liu, C. H.; Lin, Y. M.; Pittikoun, S.; Aritome, S.
- Source
- IEEE Electron Device Letters IEEE Electron Device Lett. Electron Device Letters, IEEE. 29(11):1199-1202 Nov, 2008
- Subject
- Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Dielectrics
Plasma properties
Oxidation
Plasma density
Plasma applications
Semiconductor films
Silicon
Plasma devices
Voltage
Nonvolatile memory
Data retention
interpoly dielectric (IPD)
plasma nitridation
programming speed
- Language
- ISSN
- 0741-3106
1558-0563
In this letter, plasma nitridation and oxidation on interpoly dielectric (IPD; $\hbox{SiO}_{2}\hbox{-}\hbox{SiN}\hbox{-}\hbox{SiO}_{2}$ ) for cell programming speed and reliabilities are investigated. Nitrided top oxide with $\hbox{N}_{2}$ plasma shows excellent physical and electrical properties in terms of edge profile on IPD and fast programming voltage. However, plasma nitridation on a floating gate suffers from data retention problems that result from nitridelike residue along the word line. A method to densify and reoxidize bottom oxide with $\hbox{O}_{2}$ plasma oxidation is proposed for leakage path inhibition and data retention improvement.