Two-bit lanthanum oxide trapping layer nonvolatile flash memory

This paper describes the two-bit characteristics of SONOS-type memories prepared using lanthanum oxide, a high- k dielectric material, as the trapping layers. We used "channel hot-electron injection" for programming and "band-to-band hot-hole injection" for erasing to perform the memory operations. We observed large memory windows, a relatively high P/E speed, and good retention characteristics for these SONOS-type memories. It appears that La2 O3 is an excellent candidate for use as the trapping layer in SONOS-type memories.