Crucial integration of high work-function metal gate and high-k blocking oxide on charge-trapping type flash memory device

Charge-trapping type flash memory devices with various integrations of metal gates having different work functions and blocking oxides were investigated in this work. Improved erasing speed together with acceptable reliability characteristics can be achieved by the integration of high work-function metal gate and high-k blocking oxide due to an efficient suppression of electron back tunneling through the blocking oxide during erasing operation for the MoN sample. Specifically, the high work-function value of MoN metal gate can be kept only by integrating with the Al2O3 blocking oxide because it can suppress the formation of molybdenum-silicide. Moreover, high-speed erasing can also be demonstrated by combining the MoN metal gate with an HfAlO charge trapping layer when band-to-band hot hole erasing method is adopted.