A new method of improving ONO integrity using low temperature APM in 0.15 /spl mu/m flash memory

Oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) film has been used as interpoly dielectric in 01.5 /spl mu/m stacked-gate flash memory in this work. It was found out that the yield of the flash products were strongly affected by inline ONO thickness. In order to improve the uniformity of the inline ONO thickness, the effects of a new method of low temperature APM clean on ONO film, including oxide loss, surface condition and the electrical properties of ONO have been studied. It is observed that better ONO integrity with less surface roughness, better uniformity, hence longer time dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) and stable yield can be achieved by using this new LT-APM cleaning method.