Title :
Radiation induced leakage current in floating gate memory cells
Author :
Cellere, G. ; Larcher, L. ; Paccagnella, A. ; Visconti, A. ; Bonanomi, M.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Inf. Eng., Padova Univ., Italy
Abstract :
Single ions impacting on SiO2 layers generate tracks of defects which may result in a Radiation Induced Leakage Current (RILC). This current is usually studied as the cumulative effect of ion-induced defects in capacitors with ultra-thin oxides. We are demonstrating and modeling this phenomenon in 10 nm oxides by using Floating Gate memories. The impact of a single, high-LET ion can result in severe retention problems, due to several electrically active defects, which cooperate to slowly discharge the FG. We are also proposing innovative simulation tools to reproduce this phenomenon. Results from simulations fully explain our results, and also agree with existing data on thinner (4 nm) oxides.
Keywords :
MOS memory circuits; MOSFET; capacitors; defect states; ion beam effects; leakage currents; semiconductor device models; silicon compounds; 10 nm; LET; MOSFET; SiO2; SiO2 layers; capacitors; cumulative effect; electrically active defects; floating gate memory cells; heavy ion irradiation; ion-induced defects; radiation induced leakage current; simulation tools; single event effects; ultra-thin oxides; Capacitors; Character generation; Charge carrier processes; Electron traps; Helium; Leakage current; MOSFETs; Nonvolatile memory; Read-write memory; Spontaneous emission; Floating gate memories; radiation induced leakage current; single event effects;
Journal_Title :
Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TNS.2005.860725
