Improving radiation hardness of EEPROM/flash cell by N 2 O annealing

Tiao Yuan Huang; Fuh Cheng Jong; Tien-Sheng Chao; Horng-Chih Lin; Len Yi Leu; Konrad Young; Chen Hsi Lin; Kuang Y. Chiu

doi:10.1109/55.701435

Improving radiation hardness of EEPROM/flash cell by N ₂ O annealing

Tiao Yuan Huang^*, Fuh Cheng Jong, Tien-Sheng Chao, Horng-Chih Lin, Len Yi Leu, Konrad Young, Chen Hsi Lin, Kuang Y. Chiu

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effects of an N ₂ O anneal on the radiation effects of a split-gate electrical erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM)/flash cell with a recently-proposed horn-shaped floating gate were studied. We have found that although the cells appear to survive 1 Mrad(Si) Co ⁶⁰ irradiation without data retention failure, the write/erase cycling endurance was severely impeded after irradiation. Specifically, the write/erase cycling endurance was degraded to 20 K from the pre-irradiation value of 50 K. However, by adding an N ₂ O annealing step after the interpoly oxidation, the after-irradiation write/erase cycling endurance of the resultant cell can be significantly improved to over 45 K. N ₂ O annealing also improves the after-irradiation program and erase efficiencies. The N ₂ O annealing step therefore presents a potential method for enhancing the robustness of the horn-shaped floating-gate EEPROM/flash cells for radiation-hard applications.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	256-258
Number of pages	3
Journal	IEEE Electron Device Letters
Volume	19
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/55.701435
State	Published - 1 Jul 1998

Keywords

Eeprom/flash cells
Horn-shaped floating-gate
N o annealing
Radiation hardness

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title = "Improving radiation hardness of EEPROM/flash cell by N 2 O annealing",

abstract = " The effects of an N 2 O anneal on the radiation effects of a split-gate electrical erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM)/flash cell with a recently-proposed horn-shaped floating gate were studied. We have found that although the cells appear to survive 1 Mrad(Si) Co 60 irradiation without data retention failure, the write/erase cycling endurance was severely impeded after irradiation. Specifically, the write/erase cycling endurance was degraded to 20 K from the pre-irradiation value of 50 K. However, by adding an N 2 O annealing step after the interpoly oxidation, the after-irradiation write/erase cycling endurance of the resultant cell can be significantly improved to over 45 K. N 2 O annealing also improves the after-irradiation program and erase efficiencies. The N 2 O annealing step therefore presents a potential method for enhancing the robustness of the horn-shaped floating-gate EEPROM/flash cells for radiation-hard applications. ",

keywords = "Eeprom/flash cells, Horn-shaped floating-gate, N o annealing, Radiation hardness",

author = "Huang, {Tiao Yuan} and Jong, {Fuh Cheng} and Tien-Sheng Chao and Horng-Chih Lin and Leu, {Len Yi} and Konrad Young and Lin, {Chen Hsi} and Chiu, {Kuang Y.}",

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T1 - Improving radiation hardness of EEPROM/flash cell by N 2 O annealing

AU - Huang, Tiao Yuan

AU - Jong, Fuh Cheng

AU - Chao, Tien-Sheng

AU - Lin, Horng-Chih

AU - Leu, Len Yi

AU - Young, Konrad

AU - Lin, Chen Hsi

AU - Chiu, Kuang Y.

PY - 1998/7/1

Y1 - 1998/7/1

N2 - The effects of an N 2 O anneal on the radiation effects of a split-gate electrical erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM)/flash cell with a recently-proposed horn-shaped floating gate were studied. We have found that although the cells appear to survive 1 Mrad(Si) Co 60 irradiation without data retention failure, the write/erase cycling endurance was severely impeded after irradiation. Specifically, the write/erase cycling endurance was degraded to 20 K from the pre-irradiation value of 50 K. However, by adding an N 2 O annealing step after the interpoly oxidation, the after-irradiation write/erase cycling endurance of the resultant cell can be significantly improved to over 45 K. N 2 O annealing also improves the after-irradiation program and erase efficiencies. The N 2 O annealing step therefore presents a potential method for enhancing the robustness of the horn-shaped floating-gate EEPROM/flash cells for radiation-hard applications.

AB - The effects of an N 2 O anneal on the radiation effects of a split-gate electrical erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM)/flash cell with a recently-proposed horn-shaped floating gate were studied. We have found that although the cells appear to survive 1 Mrad(Si) Co 60 irradiation without data retention failure, the write/erase cycling endurance was severely impeded after irradiation. Specifically, the write/erase cycling endurance was degraded to 20 K from the pre-irradiation value of 50 K. However, by adding an N 2 O annealing step after the interpoly oxidation, the after-irradiation write/erase cycling endurance of the resultant cell can be significantly improved to over 45 K. N 2 O annealing also improves the after-irradiation program and erase efficiencies. The N 2 O annealing step therefore presents a potential method for enhancing the robustness of the horn-shaped floating-gate EEPROM/flash cells for radiation-hard applications.

KW - Eeprom/flash cells

KW - Horn-shaped floating-gate

KW - N o annealing

KW - Radiation hardness

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JO - IEEE Electron Device Letters

JF - IEEE Electron Device Letters

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Improving radiation hardness of EEPROM/flash cell by N ₂ O annealing

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