Electro-Thermal Erasing at 104-Fold Faster Speeds in Charge-Trap Flash Memory

An erasing method capable of speeds 10
⁴
-fold faster compared with those by the conventional Fowler–Nordheim (FN) erasing technique is experimentally demonstrated in a gate-all-around junctionless (JL) charge-trap flash memory device using thermal excitation with the aid of electric field. A gate electrode serving as a built-in heater generates Joule heat for thermal excitation of trapped electrons in the charge-trap layer. The electrons excited by thermal excitation are further accelerated for injection into the silicon body by an
in-situ
applied E-field between the gate and the JL body. Hence, the trapped electrons are removed within 70 ns by electro-thermal erasing.