Experimental and Monte Carlo analysis of drain-avalanche hot-hole injection for reliability optimization in Flash memories

We present a detailed experimental and numerical analysis of drain avalanche hot-hole injection (DAHHI) in Flash memories. By using carrier-separation techniques, we provide new methods to separately estimate hot-hole impact-ionization and injection into the floating-gate (FG). Monte Carlo (MC) calculations are shown, in good agreement with data, and are used to investigate programming conditions which minimize tunnel-oxide degradation.