Analysis of oxide bulk trapped charge distribution and densities from photo injection characteristics of oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) structures
The thickness of ONO inter-poly dielectrics dominates the program and erase speed of a flash memory cell transistor with a stack gate structure. Therefore, as flash devices shrink, it is important to prevent the degradation in reliability while scaling down the thickness of the oxide. However, the thickness of the bottom oxide formed on a heavily doped poly-silicon cannot be easily reduced because of its high defect density due to a high concentration of dopants in the floating gate and an enhancement of the oxide thickness caused by oxidation of the doped polysilicon [1]. In order to overcome these problems, advanced LPCVD technology has been introduced, but the LPCVD oxide films still have many defect densities in comparison with thermal oxide films. In this work, the bulk trapped charges distribution and density in the bottom LPCVD oxide were quantitatively investigated by photocurrent-voltage characteristics. In addition, we found that the defect density and distribution in the bottom LPCVD oxide were remarkably decreased using post plasma oxidation.
Thickness scaling limitation factors of ONO interpoly dielectric for nonvolatile memory devices
This paper describes the scaling limitation factors of ONO interpoly dielectric thickness, mainly considering the charge retention capability and threshold voltage stability for nonvolatile memory cell transistors with a stacked-gate structure, based on experimental results. For good intrinsic charge retention capability, either the top- or bottom-oxide thickness should be greater than around 6 nm. On the other hand, a thicker top oxide structure is preferable to minimize degradation due to defects. It has been confirmed that a 3.2 nm bottom-oxide shows detectable threshold voltage instability, but 4 nm does not. Effective oxide thickness scaling down to around 13 nm should be possible for flash memory devices with a quarter-micron design rule.
Experimental study on bond behavior between high-strength grout and deformed steel bars
Abstract Engineers use high-strength grout to connect precast concrete members for its low shrinkage and good fluidity. This paper designed 87 central pull-out specimens using the control variable method to investigate the influence of factors on the rebar-grout bond property such as compressive strength, steel grade, bar diameter, transverse stirrups, and bond length. The test result showed that improving grout compressive strength (85.8 MPa–122.7 MPa) cannot improve the bond strength, which was different from the previous conclusions of concrete pull-out tests. Simplified formulas were presented for calculating the characteristic values of bond strength, residual strength, peak slip, and relative slip of load-holding platform based on parameter analysis. Then, a constitutive model was proposed to predict the full-range bond stress-slip curve of high-strength grout and steel bar specimens from bearing to failure. Finally, FEA models were established to evaluate the applicability and accuracy of the constitutive model.