Impact of Channel Dangling Bonds on Reliability Characteristics of Flash Memory on Poly-Si Thin Films

Author

Lin, Yu-Hsien ; Chien, Chao-Hsin ; Chou, Tung-Huan ; Chao, Tien-Sheng ; Lei, Tan-Fu

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Nat. Chiao Tung Univ., Hsinchu

Volume

28

Issue

4

fYear

2007

fDate

4/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

267

Lastpage

269

Abstract

In this letter, we fabricated the poly-Si-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS)-type Flash memories on polycrystalline-silicon thin films and found that dangling bonds presented along the grain boundaries in the channel significantly influence their reliability characteristics in the aspects of charge storage, drain disturbance, and gate disturbance. Employing a powerful defect passivation technique, i.e., NH₃ plasma treatment, the charge storage capability was clearly observed to be remarkably improved. Even so, the hydrogenated polycrystalline-silicon thin-film transistors (poly-Si-TFTs) still suffered from serious drain and gate disturbances, which exhibited behaviors that are quite specific and undoubtedly distinct from those observed in the conventional SONOS-type memories on single crystalline substrates

Keywords

dangling bonds; flash memories; passivation; thin film transistors; channel dangling bonds; charge storage; defect passivation technique; drain disturbance; flash memory; gate disturbance; grain boundaries; poly-Si thin films; reliability characteristics; Associate members; Chaos; Crystallization; Electron traps; Flash memory; Grain boundaries; Passivation; Plasma properties; Thermal stresses; Thin film transistors; Dangling bonds; flash memories; poly-Si–oxide–nitride–oxide–silicon (SONOS)-type memories; polycrystalline-silicon thin-film transistor (poly-Si-TFT);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2007.891789

Filename

4137640