A low voltage, high-speed alterable N-channel nonvolatile memory

The structure and principle of a new nonvolatile charge storage device are described. The Floating Si-gate Channel Corner Avalanche Transition (FCAT) memory device is an n-channel MOS transistor with a floating gate. The p⁺regions are placed outside the channel area by aligning them with the floating gate and are adjacent to the diffused n⁺source and/or drain regions. This device can operate write/erase modes under low voltage (12 V) and high speed (< 1 ms) conditions using only a pair of positive pulses. This is achieved with a novel avalanche transition at the channel corner through a relatively thin oxide under the open drain condition.