A novel SONOS nonvolatile flash memory device using hot hole injection for write and tunneling to/from gate for erase

A novel SONOS (polysilicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon) nonvolatile flash memory device which uses hot hole injection through the bottom oxide for write and tunneling to/from the gate through a thin top oxide for erase, with reduced power consumption, improved retention and subthreshold swing is proposed. The dynamic characteristics along with comparisons to NROM technology, forward/reverse read I/sub DS/ /spl sim/ I/sub GS/ characteristics, programming speeds and retention of SONOS device at room temperature are discussed.