A Novel Channel-Program-Erase Technique with Substrate Transient Hot Carrier Injection for SONOS Memory Application

A novel and uniform channel program and erase method is presented to replace the FN tunneling operation for SONOS cells in NAND architecture. The proposed operation utilizes substrate transient hot electron (STHE) injection and substrate transient hot hole (STHH) injection for programming and erasing, respectively. Gate bias polarity can control whether hot electrons or hot holes are injected into the nitride storage layer. More efficient program and erase operation is achieved compared to conventional Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling method. The new method operates at lower programming voltage and shorter pulse, thus increases the programming throughput. Good cycling endurance and data retention are obtained for SONOS memory applications