Comprehensive study on a novel bidirectional tunneling program/erase NOR-type (BiNOR) 3-D flash memory cell

Abstract

In this paper, a recently proposed bidirectional tunneling program/erase (P/E) NOR-type (BiNOR) flash memory is extensively investigated. With the designated localized p-well structure, uniform Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling is first fulfilled for both program and erase operations in NOR-type array architecture to facilitate low power applications. The BiNOR flash memory guarantees excellent tunnel oxide reliability and is provided with fast random access capability. Furthermore, a three-dimensional (3-D) current path in addition to the conventional two-dimensional (2-D) conduction is proven to improve the read performance. The BiNOR flash memory is thus promising for low-power, high-speed, and high-reliability nonvolatile memory applications.