Dependence of Electrons Loss Behavior on the Nitride Thickness and Temperature for Charge Trap Flash Memory Applications

Pt/Al2O3/Si3N4/SiO2/ Si charge trap flash memory structures with various thicknesses of the Si3N4 charge trapping layer were fabricated. According to the calculated and measured results, we depicted electron loss in a schematic diagram that illustrates how the trap to band tunneling and thermal excitation affects electrons loss behavior with the change of Si3N4 thickness, temperature and trap energy levels. As a result, we deduce that Si3N4 thicknesses of more than 6 or less than 4.3 nm give no contribution to improving memory performance.