Influence of Hydrogen Permeability of Liner Nitride Film on Program/Erase Endurance of Split-Gate Type Flash EEPROMS

The paper demonstrates that H atoms diffused into the CVD tunnel oxide degrade the endurance of split-gate type flash EEPROMs. The authors observed that F-N stress application generates high trap densities at the tunnel-oxide/FG interface as well as negative charges in the tunnel oxide. The density of FN-induced traps and charges was found to strongly depend on the liner nitride (SiN) film quality. Nuclear reaction analysis revealed a difference in H permeability between LPCVD-SiN and plasma SiN liner films, allowing us to correlate H atoms and the endurance degradation.