A Scalable Self-Aligned Contact NOR Flash Technology

A highly manufacturable self-aligned contact ETOXtrade NOR flash memory technology scalable beyond the 40 nm node is presented. The technology has been demonstrated on an MLC-capable 256 Mb array at the 65 nm node with the smallest cell area (0.036 mum²) reported to date. Key features include aggressively scaled drain space, symmetric S/D layout for superior lithography and device scaling, novel self-aligned contact integration with excellent spacer reliability, and equivalent CMOS performance to the conventional ETOXtrade process flow.