An antifuse EPROM circuitry scheme for field-programmable repair in DRAM

Abstract

An antifuse EPROM and 3-V programming circuit has been demonstrated in an existing 0.22-/spl mu/m DRAM process technology and is fully compatible with 64-Mb SDRAM specifications. The antifuse circuitry uses an internal high-voltage generator for programming and a dynamic sense and static latch scheme that appropriately enables redundant DRAM address decoders at power-up. For efficient high voltage generation, a high-voltage-tolerant capacitor structure was formed by using the high fringing capacitance available between intralevel and interlevel polysilicon and metal lines. Furthermore, the programmable EPROM element was realized without any process modifications by utilizing destructive dielectric breakdown of the thin, highly reliable oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) dielectric in the basic DRAM cell capacitor structure. This antifuse EPROM circuit enables implementation of field-programmable DRAM features such as memory repair, output impedance matching, and data encryption.