A New Read-Disturb Failure Mechanism Caused by Boosting Hot-Carrier Injection Effect in MLC NAND Flash Memory

Abstract

In this paper, we have reported a new failure phenomenon of read-disturb in MLC NAND flash memory caused by boosting hot-carrier injection effect. (1) The read-disturb failure occurred on unselected WL (WLn+1) after the adjacent selected WL (WLn) was performed with more than 1K read cycles. (2) The read-disturb failure of WLn+1 depends on WLn cell's Vth and its applied voltage. (3) The mechanism of this kind of failure can be explained by hot carrier injection that is generated by discharging from boosting voltage in unselected cell area (Drain of WLn) to ground (Source of WLn).