High-Quality for Low-Voltage High-Speed High-Temperature (Up to 250 ) Nonvolatile Memory Technology

We report the properties of a MANAS (Metal/Al₂O₃/Nitride/Al₂O₃/Si) charge-trap memory cell structure, in which both the tunnel and the blocking dielectrics are made of high-quality Al₂O₃ deposited by the molecular-atomic-deposition (MAD) technique. Compared with state-of-the-art MANOS (Metal/Al₂O₃/Nitride/SiO₂/Si) and its derivatives, the MANAS structure features the following: 1) low-voltage/high-speed operation; 2) fabrication simplicity; and 3) high-temperature retention up to 250°C. These superb features of the MANAS memory cell structure can be attributed to the nearly trap-free nature of the MAD_Al₂O₃, as well as its relatively high conduction band offset and low valence band offset.