Novel electron injection method using band-to-band tunneling induced hot electrons (BBHE) for flash memory with a P-channel cell

Abstract

A novel electron injection scheme for flash memory is proposed, where band-to-band tunneling induced hot electrons (BBHE) are employed in a P-channel cell. This proposed method ensures the realization of high program efficiency, high scalability and hot-hole-injection-free operation. We also demonstrate an application of the method to DINOR (DIvided bit-line NOR) program operation. An ultra-high-speed programming of 60 nsec/Byte can be achieved with a leakage current less than 1 mA by utilizing 512 Byte parallel programming. This new DINOR flash memory is shown to be the most promising for the realization of a low-voltage, high-performance and high-reliability flash memory of 64 Mbits and beyond.