Improved speed and endurance characteristicscs under illumination in a memory using stacked highΚ blocking layer

This paper reports the simultaneous improvements in Program/Erase speed and endurance characteristics in charge trapping memory using a stacked Al₂O₃/HfO₂/Al₂O₃ blocking layer. The memory properties are modified by the optical excitation due to non equilibrium depletion. In comparison to a memory capacitor with a single Al₂O₃ blocking layer, the proposed structure exhibits faster program/erase speed at the same operation voltages and its memory window is enlarged from 3 to 7.2 V for the same ±15 V sweeping voltage range. The smaller extracted formation time of inversion layer also demonstrates the faster erase speed under illumination.