Improvement of memory performance by high temperature annealing of the Al2O3 blocking layer in a charge-trap type flash memory device

The effect of postdeposition annealing (PDA) of the Al2O3 blocking layer in a charge-trap type memory device is investigated. Significant improvements are achieved by high temperature PDA at 1100 degrees C, achieving faster operation speed, good charge retention, and a wide program/erase window. Experimental evidence shows that the underlying mechanism is not the changes in the band gap of the crystallized Al2O3 but is due to the higher trap density in the Si3N4 trapping layer at a deeper energy level by the intermixing between Al2O3 and Si3N4. The reduced trapping efficiency of the annealed Al2O3 also helps improve the retention property. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3442502]