Device characteristics of 0.35 μm P-channel DINOR flash memory using band-to-band tunneling-induced hot electron (BBHE) programming

The P-channel DINOR flash memory, which uses the band-to-band tunneling induced hot electron (BBHE) program method having the advantages of high scalability, high efficiency, and high oxide reliability, was fabricated by 0.35-μm-rule CMOS process and was investigated in detail. An ultra-high programming throughput of less than 8 ns/byte (=4 μs/512 byte) and a low current consumption of less than 250 μA were achieved by utilizing 512-byte parallel programming. Furthermore, we investigated its endurance characteristics up to 10⁶ program/erase cycles, and window narrowing and G_m degradation were found to be very small even after 10⁶ cycles. It is thought that the BBHE injection point contributes to the G _m stability and the oxide-damage-reduced operation contributes to the good window narrowing characteristics. The P-channel DINOR flash memory realizing high programming throughput with low power consumption is one of the strongest candidates for the next generation of high-performance, low-voltage flash memories