Investigation of trapping/detrapping mechanisms in Al2O3 electron/hole traps and their influence on TANOS memory operations

Alumina is a key material for developing innovative Charge-Trapping Non-Volatile Memory (CT-NVM) devices. Al₂O₃ is used to implement the top dielectric in TANOS devices, and it has been proposed as trapping layer and to engineer the tunnel dielectric. Despite the large use of this material, the quantitative investigation of defect features still lacks. In this scenario, the purpose of this work is to investigate the physics of electron/hole trapping/detrapping mechanisms in Al₂O₃. Combining I-V and C-V measurements with a physical model we derive the energy levels of electron/hole traps and the location of electron/hole charge. The influence of electron/hole alumina traps on TANOS operations and reliability is investigated.