US20070048923A1

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Publication number: US20070048923A1
Application number: US11/590,363
Authority: US
Inventors: Leonard Forbes; Jerome Eldridge
Original assignee: Micron Technology Inc
Current assignee: Micron Technology Inc
Priority date: 2001-08-30
Filing date: 2006-10-31
Publication date: 2007-03-01
Also published as: US20030043637A1; US7545674B2; US20050026349A1; US7068544B2

Abstract

Structures and methods for Flash memory with low tunnel barrier intergate insulators are provided. The non-volatile memory includes a first source/drain region and a second source/drain region separated by a channel region in a substrate. A floating gate opposing the channel region and is separated therefrom by a gate oxide. A control gate opposes the floating gate. The control gate is separated from the floating gate by a low tunnel barrier intergate insulator. The low tunnel barrier intergate insulator includes a metal oxide insulator selected from the group consisting of PbO, Al₂O₃, Ta₂O₅, TiO₂, ZrO₂, and Nb₂O₅. The floating gate includes a polysilicon floating gate having a metal layer formed thereon in contact with the low tunnel barrier intergate insulator. And, the control gate includes a polysilicon control gate having a metal layer formed thereon in contact with the low tunnel barrier intergate insulator.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. Application No. 10/931,704 filed Sep. 1, 2004, which is a divisional of U.S. Application No. 09/945,507 filed Aug. 30, 2001, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,068,544, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.

This application is related to the following co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent applications: “DRAM Cells with Repressed Memory Metal Oxide Tunnel Insulators,” Ser. No. 09/945,395, “Programmable Array Logic or Memory Devices with Asymmetrical Tunnel Barriers,” Ser. No. 09/943,134, “Dynamic Electrically Alterable Programmable Memory with Insulating Metal Oxide Interpoly Insulators,” Ser. No. 09/945,498, and “Field Programmable Logic Arrays with Metal Oxide and/or Low Tunnel Barrier Interpoly Insulators,” Ser. No. 09/945,512, “SRAM Cells with Repressed Floating Gate Memory, Metal Oxide Tunnel Interpoly Insulators,” Ser. No. 09/945,554, “Programmable Memory Address and Decode Devices with Low Tunnel Barrier Interpoly Insulators,” Ser. No. 09/945,500, which are filed on even date herewith and each of which disclosure is herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits, and in particular to Flash memory with low tunnel barrier interpoly insulators.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Flash memories have become widely accepted in a variety of applications ranging from personal computers, to digital cameras and wireless phones. Both INTEL and AMD have separately each produced about one billion integrated circuit chips in this technology.

The original EEPROM or EARPROM and flash memory devices described by Toshiba in 1984 used the interpoly dielectric insulator for erase. (See generally, F. Masuoka et al., “A new flash EEPROM cell using triple polysilicon technology,” IEEE Int. Electron Devices Meeting, San Francisco, pp. 464-67, 1984; F. Masuoka et al., “256K flash EEPROM using triple polysilicon technology,” IEEE Solid-State Circuits Conf., Philadelphia, pp. 168-169, 1985). Various combinations of silicon oxide and silicon nitride were tried. (See generally, S. Mori et al., “reliable CVD inter-poly dialectics for advanced E&EEPROM,” Symp. On VLSI Technology, Kobe, Japan, pp. 16-17, 1985). However, the rough top surface of the polysilicon floating gate resulted in, poor quality interpoly oxides, sharp points, localized high electric fields, premature breakdown and reliability problems.

Widespread use of flash memories did not occur until the introduction of the ETOX cell by INTEL in 1988. (See generally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,424, “Process for fabricating electrically alterable floating gate memory devices,” 25 Oct. 1988; B. Dipert and L. Hebert, “Flash memory goes mainstream,” IEEE Spectrum, pp. 48-51, October, 1993; R. D. Pashley and S. K. Lai, “Flash memories, the best of two worlds,” IEEE Spectrum, pp. 30-33, December 1989). This extremely simple cell and device structure resulted in high densities, high yield in production and low cost. This enabled the widespread use and application of flash memories anywhere a non-volatile memory function is required. However, in order to enable a reasonable write speed the ETOX cell uses channel hot electron injection, the erase operation which can be slower is achieved by Fowler-Nordhiem tunneling from the floating gate to the source. The large barriers to electron tunneling or hot electron injection presented by the silicon oxide-silicon interface, 3.2 eV, result in slow write and erase speeds even at very high electric fields. The combination of very high electric fields and damage by hot electron collisions in the oxide result in a number of operational problems like soft erase error, reliability problems of premature oxide breakdown and a limited number of cycles of write and erase.

Other approaches to resolve the above described problems include; the use of different floating gate materials, e.g. SiC, SiOC, GaN, and GaAIN, which exhibit a lower work function (seeFIG. 1A), the use of structured surfaces which increase the localized electric fields (seeFIG. 1B), and amorphous SiC gate insulators with larger electron affinity, χ, to increase the tunneling probability and reduce erase time (seeFIG. 1C).

One example of the use of different floating gate (FIG. 1A) materials is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,801,401 by L. Forbes, entitled “FLASH MEMORY WITH MICROCRYSTALLINE SILICON CARBIDE AS THE FLOATING GATE STRUCTURE.” Another example is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,306 by L. Forbes, entitled “FLASH MEMORY WITH NANOCRYSTALLINE SILICON FILM AS THE FLOATING GATE.” Still further examples of this approach are provided in pending applications by L. Forbes and K. Ahn, entitled “DYNAMIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY OPERATION OF A FLASH MEMORY DEVICE WITH CHARGE STORAGE ON A LOW ELECTRON AFFINITY GaN OR GaAIN FLOATING GATE,” Ser. No. 08/908,098, and “VARIABLE ELECTRON AFFINITY DIAMOND-LIKE COMPOUNDS FOR GATES IN SILICON CMOS MEMORIES AND IMAGING DEVICES,” Ser. No. 08/903,452.

An example of the use of the structured surface approach (FIG. 1B) is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,350 by J. Geusic, L. Forbes, and K. Y. Ahn, entitled “DRAM CELLS WITH A STRUCTURE SURFACE USING A SELF STRUCTURED MASK.” Another example is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,627 by L. Forbes and J. Geusic, entitled “ATOMIC LAYER EXPITAXY GATE INSULATORS AND TEXTURED SURFACES FOR LOW VOLTAGE FLASH MEMORIES.”

Finally, an example of the use of amorphous SiC gate insulators (FIG. 1C) is provided in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/903,453 by L. Forbes and K. Ahn, entitled “GATE INSULATOR FOR SILICON INTEGRATED CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY BY THE CARBURIZATION OF SILICON.”

Additionally, graded composition insulators to increase the tunneling probability and reduce erase time have been described by the same inventors. (See, L. Forbes and J. M. Eldridge, “GRADED COMPOSITION GATE INSULATORS TO REDUCE TUNNELING BARRIERS IN FLASH MEMORY DEVICES,” application Ser. No. 09/945,514.

However, all of these approaches relate to increasing tunneling between the floating gate and the substrate such as is employed in a conventional ETOX device and do not involve tunneling between the control gate and floating gate through and inter-poly dielectric.

Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide improved flash memory densities while avoiding the large barriers to electron tunneling or hot electron injection presented by the silicon oxide-silicon interface, 3.2 eV, which result in slow write and erase speeds even at very high electric fields. There is also a need to avoid the combination of very high electric fields and damage by hot electron collisions in the which oxide result in a number of operational problems like soft erase error, reliability problems of premature oxide breakdown and a limited number of cycles of write and erase. Further, when using an interpoly dielectric insulator erase approach, the above mentioned problems of having a rough top surface on the polysilicon floating gate which results in, poor quality interpoly oxides, sharp points, localized high electric fields, premature breakdown and reliability problems must be avoided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1C illustrate a number of previous methods for reducing tunneling barriers in Flash memory.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a floating gate transistor, or non-volatile memory cell, according to the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates another embodiment of a floating gate transistor, or non-volatile memory cell, according to the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating an array of silicon pillars formed on a substrate as used in one embodiment according to the teachings of the present invention.

FIGS. 5A-5E are cross sectional views taken along cut line5-5 fromFIG. 4 illustrating a number of floating gate and control gate configurations which are included in the scope of the present invention.

FIGS. 6A-6D illustrate a number of address coincidence schemes can be used together with the present invention.

FIG. 7A is an energy band diagram illustrating the band structure at vacuum level with the low tunnel barrier interpoly insulator according to the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 7B is an energy band diagram illustrating the band structure during an erase operation of electrons from the floating gate to the control gate across the low tunnel barrier interpoly insulator according to the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 7C is a graph plotting tunneling currents versus the applied electric fields (reciprocal applied electric field shown) for a number of barrier heights.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of anelectronic system801 according to the teachings of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. The embodiments are intended to describe aspects of the invention in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. In the following description, the terms wafer and substrate are interchangeably used to refer generally to any structure on which integrated circuits are formed, and also to such structures during various stages of integrated circuit fabrication. Both terms include doped and undoped semiconductors, epitaxial layers of a semiconductor on a supporting semiconductor or insulating material, combinations of such layers, as well as other such structures that are known in the art.

The term “horizontal” as used in this application is defined as a plane parallel to the conventional plane or surface of a wafer or substrate, regardless of the orientation of the wafer or substrate. The term “vertical” refers to a direction perpendicular to the horizontal as defined above. Prepositions, such as “on”, “side” (as in “sidewall”), “higher”, “lower”, “over” and “under” are defined with respect to the conventional plane or surface being on the top surface of the wafer or substrate, regardless of the orientation of the wafer or substrate. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

The present invention, describes the use of metal oxide inter-poly dielectric insulators between the control gate and the floating gate. An example is shown inFIG. 2 for a planar structure, or horizontal non-volatile memory cell. According to the teachings of the present invention. The use of metal oxide films for this purpose offer a number of advantages including:

(i) Flexibility in selecting a range of smooth metal film surfaces and compositions that can be oxidized to form tunnel barrier insulators.

(ii) Employing simple “low temperature oxidation” to produce oxide films of highly controlled thickness, composition, purity and uniformity. (iii) Avoiding inadvertent inter-diffusion of the metal and silicon as well as silicide formation since the oxidation can be carried out at such low temperatures.

(iv) Using metal oxides that provide desirably lower tunnel barriers, relative to barriers currently used such as SiO₂.

(v) Providing a wide range of higher dielectric constant oxide films with improved capacitance characteristics.

(vi) Providing a unique ability to precisely tailor tunnel oxide barrier properties for various device designs and applications.

(vii) Permitting the use of thicker tunnel barriers, if needed, to enhance device performance and its control along with yield and reliability.

(viii) Developing layered oxide tunnel barriers by oxidizing layered metal film compositions in order, for example, to enhance device yields and reliability more typical of single insulating layers.

(ix) Eliminating soft erase errors caused by the current technique of tunnel erase from floating gate to the source.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a floating gate transistor, ornon-volatile memory cell200, according to the teachings of the present invention. As shown inFIG. 2, thenon-volatile memory cell200 includes a first source/drain region201 and a second source/drain region203 separated by achannel region205 in asubstrate206. A floatinggate209 opposes thechannel region205 and is separated therefrom by agate oxide211. Acontrol gate213 opposes the floatinggate209. According to the teachings of the present invention, thecontrol gate213 is separated from the floatinggate209 by a low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator215.

In one embodiment of the present invention, low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator215 includes a metal oxide insulator selected from the group consisting of lead oxide (PbO) and aluminum oxide (A₂O₃). In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator215 includes a transition metal oxide and the transition metal oxide is selected from the group consisting of Ta₂O₅, TiO₂, ZrO₂, and Nb₂O₅. In still another alternative embodiment of the present invention, the low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator215 includes a Perovskite oxide tunnel barrier.

According to the teachings of the present invention, the floatinggate209 includes apolysilicon floating gate209 having ametal layer216 formed thereon in contact with the low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator215. Likewise, thecontrol gate213 includes apolysilicon control gate213 having ametal layer217 formed thereon in contact with the low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator215. In this invention, the metal layers,216 and217, are formed of the same metal material used to form the metaloxide interpoly insulator215.

FIG. 3 illustrates another embodiment of a floating gate transistor, ornon-volatile memory cell300, according to the teachings of the present invention. As shown in the embodiment ofFIG. 3, thenon-volatile memory cell300 includes a vertical nonvolatile memory cell300. In this embodiment, thenon-volatile memory cell300 has a first source/drain region301 formed on asubstrate306. Abody region307 including achannel region305 is formed on the first source/drain region301. A second source/drain region303 is formed on thebody region307. Methods for forming such a vertical transistor structure are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,175, entitled “Memory Address Decode Array with vertical transistors, which is incorporated herein by reference. A floatinggate309 opposes thechannel region305 and is separated therefrom by agate oxide311. Acontrol gate313 opposes the floatinggate309. According to the teachings of the present invention, thecontrol gate313 is separated from the floatinggate309 by a low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator315.

According to the teachings of the present invention, the low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator315 includes ametal oxide insulator315 selected from the group consisting of PbO, Al₂O₃, Ta₂O₅, TiO₂, ZrO₂, Nb₂O₅. In still another alternative embodiment of the present invention, the low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator315 includes a Perovskite oxide tunnel barrier. The floatinggate309 includes apolysilicon floating gate309 having ametal layer316 formed thereon in contact with the low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator315. Thecontrol gate313 includes apolysilicon control gate313 having ametal layer317 formed thereon in contact with the low tunnelbarrier intergate insulator315.

As shown inFIG. 3, the floatinggate309 includes a vertical floatinggate309 formed alongside of thebody region307. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 3, thecontrol gate313 includes avertical control gate313 formed alongside of the vertical floatinggate309.

As will be explained in more detail below, the floatinggate309 andcontrol gate313 orientation shown inFIG. 3 is just one embodiment for a vertical nonvolatile memory cell300, according to the teachings of the present invention. In other embodiments, explained below, the floating gate includes a horizontally oriented floating gate formed alongside of the body region. In this alternative embodiment, the control gate includes a horizontally oriented control gate formed above the horizontally oriented floating gate.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating an array of silicon pillars400-1,400-2,400-3, . . . ,400-N, formed on asubstrate406 as used in one embodiment according to the teachings of the present invention. As will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reading this disclosure, the substrates can be (i) conventional p-type bulk silicon or p-type epitaxial layers on p+ wafers, (ii) silicon on insulator formed by conventional SIMOX, wafer bonding and etch back or silicon on sapphire, or (iii) small islands of silicon on insulator utilizing techniques such as described in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,230, by Leonard Forbes, entitled “Technique for Producing Small Islands of Silicon on Insulator,” issued Nov. 25, 1997, which is incorporated herein by reference.

As shown inFIG. 4, each pillar in the array of silicon pillars400-1,400-2,400-3, . . . ,400-N, includes a first source/drain region401 and a second source/drain region403. The first and the second source/drain regions,401 and403, are separated by abody region407 includingchannel regions405. As shown inFIG. 4, a number oftrenches430 separate adjacent pillars in the array of silicon pillars400-1,400-2,400-3, . . . ,400-N. Trenches430 are referenced in connection with the discussion which follows in connection withFIGS. 5A-5E.

FIGS. 5A-5E are cross sectional views taken along cut line5-5 fromFIG. 4. As mentioned above in connection withFIG. 3, a number of floating gate and control gate configurations are included in the present invention.FIG. 5A illustrates one such embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 5A illustrates a first source/drain region501 and second source/drain region503 for a non-volatile memory cell500 formed according to the teachings of the present invention. As shown inFIG. 5, the first and second source/drain regions,501 and503, are contained in a pillar of semiconductor material, and separated by a body region507 includingchannel regions505. As shown in the embodiments ofFIGS. 5A-5E, the first source/drain region501 is integrally connected to a buriedsourceline525. As one or ordinary skill in the art will understand upon reading this disclosure the buriedsourceline525 is be formed of semiconductor material which has the same doping type as the first source/drain region501. In one embodiment, thesourceline525 is formed of semiconductor material of the same doping as the first source/drain region501, but is more heavily doped than the first source/drain region501.

As shown in the embodiment ofFIG. 5A, a pair of floating gates509-1 and509-2 are formed in eachtrench530 between adjacent pillars which form memory cells500-1 and500-2. Each one of the pair of floating gates,509-1 and509-2, respectively opposes the body regions507-1 and507-2 in adjacent pillars500-1 and500-2 on opposing sides of thetrench530.

In this embodiment, asingle control gate513 is shared by the pair of floating gates509-1 and509-2 on opposing sides of thetrench530. As one of ordinary skill in the art will understand upon reading this disclosure, the sharedsingle control gate513 can include an integrally formed control gate line. As shown inFIG. 5A, such an integrally formedcontrol gate line513 can be one of a plurality of control gate lines which are each independently formed in the trench, such astrench530, below the top surface of the pillars500-1 and500-2 and between the pair of floating gates509-1 and509-2. In one embodiment, according to the teachings of the present invention, each floating gate, e.g.509-1 and509-2, includes a vertically oriented floating gate having a vertical length of less than 100 nanometers.

As shown in the embodiment ofFIG. 5B, a pair of floating gates509-1 and509-2 are formed in eachtrench530 between adjacent pillars which form memory cells500-1 and500-2. Each one of the pair of floating gates,509-1 and509-2, respectively opposes the body regions507-1 and507-2 in adjacent pillars500-1 and500-2 on opposing sides of thetrench530.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 5B, a plurality of control gate lines are again formed in trenches,e.g. trench530, below the top surface of the pillars,500-1 and500-2, and between the pair of floating gates509-1 and509-2. However, in this embodiment, each trench, e.g.530, houses a pair of control gate lines, shown as513-1 and513-2. Each one of the pair of control gate lines513-1 and513-2 addresses the floating gates,509-1 and509-2 respectively, on opposing sides of thetrench530. In this embodiment, the pair of control gate lines, or control gates513-1 and513-2 are separated by an insulator layer.

As shown in the embodiment ofFIG. 5C, a pair of floating gates509-1 and509-2 are again formed in eachtrench530 between adjacent pillars which form memory cells500-1 and500-2. Each one of the pair of floating gates,509-1 and509-2, respectively opposes the body regions507-1 and507-2 in adjacent pillars500-1 and500-2 on opposing sides of thetrench530.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 5C, the plurality of control gate lines are disposed vertically above the floating gates. That is, in one embodiment, the control gate lines are located above the pair of floating gates509-1 and509-2 and not fully beneath the top surface of the pillars500-1 and500-2. In the embodiment ofFIG. 5C, each pair of floating gates, e.g.509-1 and509-2, in a given trench shares a single control gate line, orcontrol gate513.

As shown in the embodiment ofFIG. 5D, a pair of floating gates509-1 and509-2 are formed in eachtrench530 between adjacent pillars which form memory cells500-1 and500-2. Each one of the pair of floating gates,509-1 and509-2, respectively opposes the body regions507-1 and507-2 in adjacent pillars500-1 and500-2 on opposing sides of thetrench530.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 5D, the plurality of control gate lines are disposed vertically above the floating gates. That is, in one embodiment, the control gate lines are located above the pair of floating gates509-1 and509-2 and not fully beneath the top surface of the pillars500-1 and500-2. However, in the embodiment ofFIG. 5D, each one of the pair of floating gates, e.g.509-1 and509-2, is addressed by an independent one of the plurality of control lines or control gates, shown inFIG. 5D as513-1 and513-2.

As shown in the embodiment ofFIG. 5E, a single floatinggate509 is formed in eachtrench530 between adjacent pillars which form memory cells500-1 and500-2. According to the teachings of the present invention, the single floatinggate509 can be either a vertically oriented floatinggate509 or a horizontally oriented floatinggate509 formed by conventional processing techniques, or can be a horizontally oriented floatinggate509 formed by a replacement gate technique such as described in a copending application, entitled “Flash Memory with Ultrathin Vertical Body Transistors,” by Leonard Forbes and Kie Y. Ahn, application Ser. No. 09/780,169. In one embodiment of the present invention, the floatinggate509 has a vertical length facing thebody region505 of less than 100 nm. In another embodiment, the floatinggate509 has a vertical length facing thebody region505 of less than 50 nm. In one embodiment, as shown inFIG. 5E, the floatinggate509 is shared, respectively, with the body regions507-1 and507-2, including channel regions505-1 and505-2, in adjacent pillars500-1 and500-2 located on opposing sides of thetrench530.

As one of ordinary skill in the art will understand upon reading this disclosure, in each of the embodiments described above in connection withFIGS. 5A-5E the floatinggates509 are separated from the control gate lines, or controlgates513 with a low tunnel barrier intergate insulator in accordance with the descriptions given above in connection withFIG. 3. The modifications here are to use tunneling through the interpoly dielectric to realize flash memory devices. The vertical devices include an extra flexibility in that the capacitors, e.g. gate oxide and intergate insulator, are easily fabricated with different areas. This readily allows the use of very high dielectric constant inter-poly dielectric insulators with lower tunneling barriers.

FIGS. 6A-6D illustrate that a number of address coincidence schemes can be used together with the present invention.FIG. 6A illustrates a NORflash memory array610 having a number of non-volatile memory cells600-1,600-2,600-3, using a coincidence address array scheme. For purposes of illustration,FIG. 6A shows asourceline625 coupled to a first source/drain region601 in each of the number of non-volatile memory cells600-1,600-2,600-3. The sourceline is shown oriented in a first selected direction in theflash memory array610. InFIG. 6A, a number ofcontrol gate lines630 are shown oriented in a second selected direction in theflash memory array610. As shown inFIG. 6A, the number ofcontrol gate lines630 are coupled to, or integrally formed with thecontrol gates613 for the number of non-volatile memory cells600-1,600-2,600-3. As shown inFIG. 6A, the second selected direction is orthogonal to the first selected direction. Finally,FIG. 6A shows a number ofbitlines635 oriented in a third selected direction in theflash memory array610. As shown inFIG. 6A, the number of bitlines are coupled to the second source/drain regions in the number of non-volatile memory cells600-1,600-2,600-3. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 6A the third selected direction is parallel to the second selected direction and the number ofcontrol gate lines630 serve as address lines. Also, as shown inFIG. 6A, theflash memory array610 includes a number of backgate or substrate/wellbias address lines640 coupled to the substrate.

UsingFIG. 6A as a reference point,FIGS. 6B-6D illustrate of top view for three different coincidence address scheme layouts suitable for use with the present invention. First,FIG. 6B provides the top view layout of the coincidence address scheme described in connection withFIG. 6A. That is,FIG. 6B illustrates a number ofsourcelines625 oriented in a first selected direction, a number ofcontrol gate lines630 oriented in a second selected direction, and a number ofbitlines635 oriented in a third selected direction for the flash memory array600. As explained above in connection withFIG. 6A, in this embodiment, the second and third selected direction are parallel to one another and orthogonal to the first selected direction such that the number ofcontrol gate lines630 serve as address lines.

FIG. 6C provides the top view layout of another coincidence address scheme according to the teachings of the present invention. This is,FIG. 6C illustrates a number ofsourcelines625 oriented in a first selected direction, a number ofcontrol gate lines630 oriented in a second selected direction, and a number ofbitlines635 oriented in a third selected direction for the flash memory array600. In the embodiment ofFIG. 6C, the first selected direction and the third selected direction are parallel to one another and orthogonal to the second selected direction. In this embodiment, the number ofcontrol gate lines630 again serve as address lines.

FIG. 6D provides the top view layout of yet another coincidence address scheme according to the teachings of the present invention. This is,FIG. 6D illustrates a number ofsourcelines625 oriented in a first selected direction, a number ofcontrol gate lines630 oriented in a second selected direction, and a number ofbitlines635 oriented in a third selected direction for the flash memory array600. In the embodiment ofFIG. 6D, the first selected direction and the second selected direction are parallel to one another and orthogonal to the third selected direction. In this embodiment, the number ofbitlines635 serve as address lines.

As will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon reading this disclosure, and as will be described in more detail below, write can still be achieved by hot electron injection and/or, according to the teachings of the present invention, tunneling from the control gate. According to the teachings of the present invention, block erase is accomplished by driving the control gates with a relatively large positive voltage and tunneling from the metal on top of the floating gate to the metal on the bottom of the control gate.

FIG. 7A is an energy band diagram illustrating the band structure at vacuum level with the low tunnel barrier interpoly insulator according to the teachings of the present invention.FIG. 7A is useful in illustrating the reduced tunnel barrier off of the floating gate to the control gate and for illustrating the respective capacitances of the structure according to the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 7A shows the band structure of the silicon substrate,e.g. channel region701, silicon dioxide gate insulator,e.g. gate oxide703,polysilicon floating gate705, the low tunnelbarrier interpoly dielectric707, between

metal plates

709 and711, and then thepolysilicon control gate713, according to the teachings of the present invention.

The design considerations involved are determined by the dielectric constant, thickness and tunneling barrier height of the interpolydielectric insulator707 relative to that of the silicon dioxide gate insulator,e.g. gate oxide703. The tunneling probability through theinterpoly dielectric707 is an exponential function of both the barrier height and the electric field across this dielectric.

FIG. 7B is an energy band diagram illustrating the band structure during an erase operation of electrons from the floatinggate705 to thecontrol gate713 across the low tunnelbarrier interpoly insulator707 according to the teachings of the present invention.FIG. 7B is similarly useful in illustrating the reduced tunnel barrier off of the floatinggate705 to thecontrol gate713 and for illustrating the respective capacitances of the structure according to the teachings of the present invention.

As shown inFIG. 7B, the electric field is determined by the total voltage difference across the structure, the ratio of the capacitances (seeFIG. 7A), and the thickness of theinterpoly dielectric707. The voltage across theinterpoly dielectric707 will be, ΔV2=V C1/(C1+C2), where V is the total applied voltage. The capacitances, C, of the structures depends on the dielectric constant, ∈_r, or the permittivity of free space, ∈_o, and the thickness of the insulating layers, t, and area, A, such that C=∈_r∈_oA/t, Farads/cm². The electric field across the interpolydielectric insulator707, having capacitance, C2, will then be E2=ΔV2/t2, where t2 is the thickness of this layer.

The tunneling current in erasing charge from the floatinggate705 by tunneling to thecontrol gate713 will then be as shown inFIG. 7B given by an equation of the form:
J=B exp(−Eo/E)
where E is the electric field across the interpolydielectric insulator707 and Eo depends on the barrier height. Practical values of current densities for aluminum oxide which has a current density of 1 A/cm²at a field of about E=1V/20A=5×10⁻⁶V/cm are evidenced in a description by Pollack. (See generally, S. R. Pollack and C. E. Morris, “Tunneling through gaseous oxidized films of Al₂O₃,” Trans. AIME, Vol. 233, p. 497, 1965). Practical current densities for silicon oxide transistor gate insulators which has a current density of 1 A/cm²at a field of about E=2.3V/23A=1×10+7 V/cm are evidenced in a description by T. P. Ma et al. (See generally, T. P. Ma et al., “Tunneling leakage current in ultrathin (<a4 nm) nitride/oxide stack dielectrics,” IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 19, no. 10, pp. 388-390, 1998).

The lower electric field in the aluminumoxide interpoly insulator707 for the same current density reflects the lower tunneling barrier of less than 2 eV, shown inFIG. 7B, as opposed to the 3.2 eV tunneling barrier ofsilicon oxide703, also illustrated inFIG. 7B.

FIG. 7C is a graph plotting tunneling currents versus the applied electric fields (reciprocal applied electric field shown) for a number of barrier heights.FIG. 7C illustrates the dependence of the tunneling currents on electric field (reciprocal applied electric field) and barrier height. The fraction of voltage across the interpoly or intergate insulator, ΔV2, can be increased by making the area of the intergate capacitor, C2, (e.g. intergate insulator707) smaller than the area of the transistor gate capacitor, C1 (e.g. gate oxide703). This would be required with high dielectric constant intergatedielectric insulators707 and is easily realized with the vertical floating gate structures described above in connection withFIGS. 3, and5A-5E.

Methods of Formation

Several examples are outlined below in order to illustrate how a diversity of such metal oxide tunnel barriers can be formed, according to the teachings of the present invention. Processing details and precise pathways taken which are not expressly set forth below will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art upon reading this disclosure. Firstly, although not included in the details below, it is important also to take into account the following processing factors in connection with the present invention:

(i) The poly-Si layer is to be formed with emphasis on obtaining a surface that is very smooth and morphologically stable at subsequent device processing temperatures which will exceed that used to grow Metal oxide.

(ii) The native SiO_xoxide on the poly-Si surface must be removed (e.g., by sputter cleaning in an inert gas plasma in situ) just prior to depositing the metal film. The electrical characteristics of the resultant Poly-Si/Metal/Metal oxide/Metal/Poly-Si structure will be better defined and reproducible than that of a Poly-Si/Native SiO_x/Metal/Metal oxide/Poly-Si structure.

(iii) The oxide growth rate and limiting thickness will increase with oxidation temperature and oxygen pressure. The oxidation kinetics of a metal may, in some cases, depend on the crystallographic orientations of the very small grains of metal which comprise the metal film (see generally, O, Kubaschewski and B. E. Hopkins, “Oxidation of Metals and Alloys”, Butterworth, London, pp. 53-64, 1962). If such effects are significant, the metal deposition process can be modified in order to increase its preferred orientation and subsequent oxide thickness and tunneling uniformity. To this end, use can be made of the fact that metal films strongly prefer to grow during their depositions having their lowest free energy planes parallel to the film surface. This preference varies with the crystal structure of the metal. For example, fcc metals prefer to form {111 } surface plans. Metal orientation effects, if present, would be larger when only a limited fraction of the metal will be oxidized and unimportant when all or most of the metal is oxidized.

(iv) Modifications in the structure shown inFIG. 2 may be introduced in order to compensate for certain properties in some metal/oxide/metal layers. Such changes are reasonable since a wide range of metals, alloys and oxides with quite different physical and chemical properties can be used to form these tunnel junctions.

EXAMPLE 1Formation of PbO Tunnel Barriers

This oxide barrier has been studied in detail using Pb/PbO/Pb structures. The oxide itself can be grown very controllably on deposited lead films using either thermal oxidation (see generally, J. M. Eldridge and J. Matisoo, “Measurement of tunnel current density in a Meal-Oxide-Metal system as a function of oxide thickness,” Proc. 12^thIntern. Conf. on Low Temperature Physics, pp. 427-428, 1971; J. M. Eldridge and D. W. Dong, “Growth of thin PbO layers on lead films. I. Experiment,” Surface Science, Vol. 40, pp. 512-530, 1973) or rf sputter etching in an oxygen plasma (see generally, J. H. Greiner, “Oxidation of lead films by rf sputter etching in an oxygen plasma”, J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 32-37, 1974). It will be seen that there are a number of possible variations on this structure. Starting with a clean poly-Si substrate, one processing sequence using thermal oxidation involves:

(i) Depositing a clean lead film on the poly-Si floating gate at ˜25 to 75 C. in a clean vacuum system having a base pressure of ˜10⁻⁸Torr or lower. The Pb film will be very thin with a thickness within 1 or 2A of its target value.

(ii) Lead and other metal films can be deposited by various means including physical sputtering and/or from a Knudsen evaporation cell. The sputtering process also offers the ability to produce smoother films by increasing the re-sputtering-to-deposition ratio since re-sputtering preferentially reduces geometric high points of the film.

(iii) Using a “low temperature oxidation process” to grow an oxide film of self-limited thickness. In this case, oxygen gas is introduced at the desired pressure in order to oxidize the lead in situ without an intervening exposure to ambient air. For a fixed oxygen pressure and temperature, the PbO thickness increases with log(time). Its thickness can be controlled via time or other parameters to within 0.10 A, as determined via in situ ellipsometric or ex situ measurements of Josephson tunneling currents. This control is demonstrated by the very limited statistical scatter of the current PbO thickness data shown in the insert ofFIG. 3 in an article by J. M. Eldridge and J. Matisoo, entitled “Measurement of tunnel current density in a Meal-Oxide-Metal system as a function of oxide thickness,” Proc. 12^thIntern. Conf. on Low Temperature Physics, pp. 427-428, 1971. This remarkable degree of control over tunnel current is due to the excellent control over PbO thickness that can be achieved by “low temperature oxidation.” For example, increasing the oxidation time from 100 to 1,000 minutes at an oxygen pressure of 750 Torr at 25 C only raises the PbO thickness by 3 A (e.g., from ˜21 to 24 A, seeFIG. 1 in J. M. Eldridge and J. Matisoo, “Measurement of tunnel current density in a Meal-Oxide-Metal system as a function of oxide thickness,” Proc. 12^thIntern. Conf. on Low Temperature Physics, pp. 427-428, 1971). Accordingly, controlling the oxidation time to within 1 out of a nominal 100 minute total oxidation time provides a thickness that is within 0.1 A of 21 A. The PbO has a highly stoichiometric composition throughout its thickness, as evidenced from ellipsometry (e.g., seeFIG. 6 in J. M. Eldridge and D. W. Dong, “Growth of thin PbO layers on lead films. I. Experiment,” Surface Science, Vol. 40, pp. 512-530, 1973) and the fact that the tunnel barrier heights are identical for Pb/PbO/Pb structures.

(iv) Re-evacuate the system and deposit the top lead electrode. This produces a tunnel structure having virtually identical tunnel barriers at both Pb/O interfaces.

(v) The temperature used to subsequently deposit the Poly-Si control gate must be held below the melting temperature (327 C.) of lead. The PbO itself is stable (up to ˜500 C. or higher) and thus introduces no temperature constraint on subsequent processes. One may optionally oxidize the lead film to completion, thereby circumventing the low melting temperature of metallic lead. In this case, one would form a Poly-Si/PbO/Poly-Si tunnel structure having an altered tunnel barrier for charge injection. Yet another variation out of several would involve: oxidizing the lead film to completion; replacing the top lead electrode with a higher melting metal such as Al; and, then adding the poly-Si control layer. This junction would have asymmetrical tunneling behavior due to the difference in barrier heights between the Pb/PbO and PbO/Al electrodes.

EXAMPLE IIFormation of Al₂O₃Tunnel Barriers

A number of studies have dealt with electron tunneling in Al/A₂O₃/Al structures where the oxide was grown by “low temperature oxidation” in either molecular or plasma oxygen (see generally, S. M. Sze, Physics of Semiconductor Devices, Wiley, N.Y., pp. 553-556, 1981; G. Simmons and A. El-Badry, “Generalized formula for the electric tunnel effect between similar electrodes separated by a thin insulating film,” J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 34, p. 1793, 1963; S. R. Pollack and C. E. Morris, “Tunneling through gaseous oxidized films of Al₂O₃,” Trans. AIME, Vol. 233, p. 497, 1965; Z. Hurych, “Influence of nonuniform thickness of dielectric layers on capacitance and tunnel currents,” Solid-State Electronics, Vol. 9, p. 967, 1966; S. P. S. Arya and H. P. Singh, “Conduction properties of thin Al₂O₃films,” Thin Solid Films, Vol. 91, No. 4, pp. 363-374, May 1982; K.-H. Gundlach and J. Holzl, “Logarithmic conductivity of Al—Al₂O₃—Al tunneling junctions produced by plasma- and by thermal-oxidation”, surface Science, Vol. 27, pp. 125-141, 1971). Before sketching out a processing sequence for these tunnel barriers, note:

(i) Capacitance and tunnel measurements indicate that the Al₂O₃thickness increases with the log (oxidation time), similar to that found for PbO/Pb as well as a great many other oxide/metal systems.

(ii) Tunnel currents are asymmetrical in this system with somewhat larger currents flowing when electrons are injected from Al/Al₂O₃interface developed during oxide growth. This asymmetry is due to a minor change in composition of the growing oxide: there is a small concentration of excess metal in the Al₂O₃, the concentration of which diminishes as the oxide is grown thicker. The excess Al⁺³ions produce a space charge that lowers the tunnel barrier at the inner interface. The oxide composition at the outer Al₂O₃/Al contact is much more stoichiometric and thus has a higher tunnel barrier. In situ ellipsometer measurements on the thermal oxidation of Al films deposited and oxidized in situ support this model (see generally, J. Grimblot and J. M. Eldridge, “I. Interaction of Al films with O₂at low pressures”, J. Electro. Chem. Soc., Vol. 129, No. 10, pp. 2366-2368, 1982. J. Grimblot and J. M. Eldridge, “II. Oxidation of Al films”, ibid, 2369-2372, 1982). In spite of this minor complication, Al/Al₂O₃/Al tunnel barriers can be formed that will produce predictable and highly controllable tunnel currents that can be ejected from either electrode. The magnitude of the currents are still primarily dominated by Al₂O₃thickness which can be controlled via the oxidation parametrics.

With this background, we can proceed to outline one process path out of several that can be used to form Al₂O₃tunnel barriers. Here the aluminum is thermally oxidized although one could use other techniques such as plasma oxidation (see generally, S. R. Pollack and C. E. Morris, “Tunneling through gaseous oxidized films of Al₂O₃,” Trans. AIME, Vol. 233, p. 497, 1965; K.-H. Gundlach and J. Holzl, “Logarithmic conductivity of Al—Al₂O₃—Al tunneling junctions produced by plasma- and by thermal-oxidation”, Surface Science, Vol. 27, pp. 125-141, 1971) or rf sputtering in an oxygen plasma (see generally, J. H. Greiner, “Oxidation of lead films by rf sputter etching in an oxygen plasma”, J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 32-37, 1974). For the sake of brevity, some details noted above will not be repeated. The formation of the Al/Al₂O₃/Al structures will be seen to be simpler than that described for the Pb/PbO/Pb junctions owing to the much higher melting point of aluminum, relative to lead.

(i) Sputter deposit aluminum on poly-Si at a temperature of ˜25 to 150 C. Due to thermodynamic forces, the micro-crystallites of the f.c.c. aluminum will have a strong and desirable (111) preferred orientation.

(ii) Oxidize the aluminum in situ in molecular oxygen using temperatures, pressure and time to obtain the desired Al₂O₃thickness. As with PbO, the thickness increases with log (time) and can be controlled via time at a fixed oxygen pressure and temperature to within 0.10 Angstroms, when averaged over a large number of aluminum grains that are present under the counter-electrode. One can readily change the Al₂O₃thickness from ˜15 to 35 A by using appropriate oxidation parametrics (e.g., seeFIG. 2 in J. Grimblot and J. M. Eldridge, “II. Oxidation of Al films”, J. Electro. Chem. Soc., Vol. 129, No. 10, pp. 2369-2372, 1982). The oxide will be amorphous and remain so until temperatures in excess of 400 C. are reached. The initiation of recrystallization and grain growth can be suppressed, if desired, via the addition of small amounts of glass forming elements (e.g., Si) without altering the growth kinetics or barrier heights significantly.

(iii) Re-evacuate the system and deposit a second layer of aluminum.

(iv) Deposit the Poly-Si control gate layer using conventional processes.

EXAMPLE IIIFormation of Single- and Multi-Layer Transition Metal Oxide Tunnel Barriers

Single layers of Ta₂O₅, TiO₂, ZrO₂, Nb₂O₅and similar transition metal oxides can be formed by “low temperature oxidation” of numerous Transition Metal (e.g., TM oxides) films in molecular and plasma oxygen and also by rf sputtering in an oxygen plasma. The thermal oxidation kinetics of these metals have been studied for decades with numerous descriptions and references to be found in the book by Kubaschewski and Hopkins (0. Kubaschewski and B. E. Hopkins, “Oxidation of Metals and Alloys”, Butterworth, London, pp. 53-64, 1962). In essence, such metals oxidize via logarithmic kinetics to reach thicknesses of a few to several tens of angstroms in the range of 100 to 300 C. Excellent oxide barriers for Josephson tunnel devices can be formed by rf sputter etching these metals in an oxygen plasma (see generally, J. M. Greiner, “Josephson tunneling barriers by rf sputter etching in an oxygen plasma,” J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 42, No. 12, pp. 5151-5155, 1971; O. Michikami et al., “Method of fabrication of Josephson tunnel junctions,” U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,902, Nov. 1, 1983). Such “low temperature oxidation” approaches differ considerably from MOCVD processes used to produce these TM oxides. MOCVD films require high temperature oxidation treatments to remove carbon impurities, improve oxide stoichiometry and produce recrystallization. Such high temperature treatments also cause unwanted interactions between the oxide and the underlying silicon and thus have necessitated the introduction of interfacial barrier layers. See, for example, H. F. Luan et al., “High quality Ta₂O₅gate dielectrics with T_ox,eq<10 angstroms,” IEDM Tech. Digest, pp. 141-144, 1999.

A new approach was described in a copending application by J. M. Eldridge, entitled “Thin Dielectric Films for DRAM Storage Capacitors,” patent application Ser. No. 09/651,380 filed Aug. 29, 2000 that utilizes “low temperature oxidation” to form duplex layers of TM oxides. Unlike MOCVD films, the oxides are very pure and stoichiometric as formed. They do require at least a brief high temperature (est. 700 to 800 C but may be lower) treatment to transform their microstructures from amorphous to crystalline and thus increase their dielectric constants to the desired values (>20 or so). Unlike MOCVD oxides, this treatment can be carried out in an inert gas atmosphere, thus lessening the possibility of inadvertently oxidizing the poly-Si floating gate. While this earlier disclosure was directed at developing methods and procedures for producing high dielectric constant films for storage cells for DRAMs, the same teachings can be applied to producing thinner metal oxide tunnel films for the flash memory devices described in this disclosure. The dielectric constants of these TM oxides are substantially greater (>25 to 30 or more) than those of PbO and Al₂O₃. Duplex layers of these high dielectric constant oxide films are easily fabricated with simple tools and also provide improvement in device yields and reliability. Each oxide layer will contain some level of defects but the probability that such defects will overlap is exceedingly small. Effects of such duplex layers were first reported by one J. M. Eldridge of the present authors and are well known to practitioners of the art. It is worth mentioning that highly reproducible TM oxide tunnel barriers can be grown by rf sputtering in an oxygen ambient, as referenced above (see generally, J. M. Greiner, “Josephson tunneling barriers by rf sputter etching in an oxygen plasma,” J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 42, No. 12, pp. 5151-5155, 1971; O. Michikami et al., “Method of fabrication of Josephson tunnel junctions,” U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,902, Nov. 1, 1983). Control over oxide thickness and other properties in these studies were all the more remarkable in view of the fact that the oxides were typically grown on thick (e.g., 5,000 A) metals such as Nb and Ta. In such metal-oxide systems, a range of layers and suboxides can also form, each having their own properties. In the present disclosure, control over the properties of the various TM oxides will be even better since we employ very limited (perhaps 10 to 100 A or so) thicknesses of metal and thereby preclude the formation of significant quantities of unwanted, less controllable sub-oxide films. Thermodynamic forces will drive the oxide compositions to their most stable, fully oxidized state, e.g., Nb₂O₅, Ta₂O₅, etc. As noted above, it will still be necessary to crystallize these duplex oxide layers. Such treatments can be done by RTP and will be shorter than those used on MOCVD and sputter-deposited oxides since the stoichiometry and purity of the “low temperature oxides” need not be adjusted at high temperature.

Fairly detailed descriptions for producing thicker duplex layers of TM oxides have been given in the copending application by J. M. Eldridge, entitled “Thin Dielectric Films for DRAM Storage Capacitors,” patent application Ser. No. 09/651,380 filed Aug. 29, 2000, so there is no need to repeat them here. Although perhaps obvious to those skilled in the art, one can sketch out a few useful fabrication guides:

(i) Thinner TM layers will be used in this invention relative to those used to form DRAMs. Unlike DRAMs where leakage must be eliminated, the duplex oxides used here must be thin enough to carry very controlled levels of current flow when subjected to reasonable applied fields and times.

(ii) The TM and their oxides are highly refractory and etchable (e.g., by RIE). Hence they are quite compatible with poly-Si control gate processes and other subsequent steps.

(iii) TM silicide formation will not occur during the oxidation step. It could take place at a significant rate at the temperatures used to deposit the poly-Si control gate. If so, several solutions can be applied including:

- (i) Insert certain metals at the TM/poly-Si boundaries that will prevent inter-diffusion of the TM and the poly-Si.
- (ii) Completely oxide the TMs. The electrical characteristics of the resulting poly-Si/TM oxide 1/TM oxide 2/poly-Si structure will be different in the absence of having TM at the oxide/metal interfaces.

EXAMPLE IVFormation of Alternate Metal Compound Tunnel Barriers

Although no applications may be immediately obvious, it is conceivable that one might want to form a stack of oxide films having quite different properties, for example, a stack comprised of a high dielectric constant (k) oxide/a low k oxide/a high k oxide. “Low temperature oxidation” can be used to form numerous variations of such structures. While most of this disclosure deals with the formation and use of stacks of oxide dielectrics, it is also possible to use “low temperature oxidation” to form other thin film dielectrics such as nitrides, oxynitrides, etc. that could provide additional functions such as being altered by monochromatic light, etc. These will not be discussed further here.

EXAMPLE VFormation of Perovskite Oxide Tunnel Barriers

Some results have been obtained which demonstrate that at least a limited range of high temperature, super-conducting oxide films can be made by thermally oxidizing Y—Ba—Cu alloy films (see generally, Hase et al., “Method of manufacturing an oxide superconducting film,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,738, Sep. 27, 1994). The present inventors have also disclosed how to employ “low temperature oxidation” and short thermal treatments in an inert ambient at 700 C. in order to form a range of perovskite oxide films from parent alloy films (see generally, J. M. Eldridge, “Low Cost Processes for Producing High Quality Perovskite Dielectric Films,” application Ser. No. 09/945,137). The dielectric constants of crystallized, perovskite oxides can be very large, with values in the 100 to 1000 or more range. The basic process is more complicated than that needed to oxidize layered films of transition metals. (See Example III.) The TM layers would typically be pure metals although they could be alloyed. The TMs are similar metallurgically as are their oxides. In contrast, the parent alloy films that can be converted to a perovskite oxide are typically comprised of metals having widely different chemical reactivities with oxygen and other common gasses. In the Y—Ba—Cu system referenced above, Y and Ba are among the most reactive of metals while the reactivity of Cu approaches (albeit distantly) those of other noble metals. If the alloy is to be completely oxidized, then thin film barriers such as Pd, Pt, etc. or their conductive oxides must be added between the Si and the parent metal film to serve as: electrical contact layers; diffusion barriers; and, oxidation stops. In such a case, the Schottky barrier heights of various TM oxides and perovskite oxides in contact with various metals will help in the design of the tunnel device. In the more likely event that the perovskite parent alloy film will be only partially converted to oxide and then covered with a second layer of the parent alloy (recall the structure ofFIG. 2), then the barrier heights will represent that developed during oxide growth at the parent perovskite alloy/perovskite oxide interface. Obviously, such barrier heights cannot be predicted ab initio for such a wide class of materials but will have to be developed as the need arises. This information will have to be developed on a system-by-system basis.

Methods of Operation

Write Operation

Write can be achieved by the normal channel hot electron injection and gate current through the silicon oxide to the floating gate. This is done by selecting a particular column by applying a high control gate voltage and applying relatively large drain voltage as is done with conventional ETOX flash memory devices. However, according to the teachings of the present invention, write can also be accomplished by applying a positive voltage to the substrate or well select line and a large negative voltage to the control gates, electrons will tunnel from the control gate to the floating gate. The low tunnel barrier will provide an easy write operation and the selection of the substrate or well bias will provide selectivity and address only one device.

Erase Operation

According to the teachings of the present invention, erase is achieved by providing a negative voltage to the substrate or well address line and a large positive voltage to the control gate. This causes electrons to tunnel off of the floating gate on to the control gate. A whole row can be erased by addressing all the column lines along that row and a block can be erased by addressing multiple row back gate or substrate/well address lines.

Read Operation

Read is accomplished as in conventional ETOX flash memory devices. A column line is addressed by applying a positive control gate voltage and sensing the current along the data bit or drain row address line.

System Level

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of anelectronic system801 according to the teachings of the present invention. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 8, thesystem801 includes amemory device800 which has an array ofmemory cells802,address decoder804,row access circuitry806,column access circuitry808,control circuitry810, and input/output circuit812. Also, as shown inFIG. 8, thecircuit801 includes aprocessor814, or memory controller for memory accessing. Thememory device800 receives control signals from theprocessor814, such as WE*, RAS* and CAS* signals over wiring or metallization lines. Thememory device800 is used to store data which is accessed via I/O lines. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that additional circuitry and control signals can be provided, and that thememory device800 has been simplified to help focus on the invention. At least one of thememory cells802 has a memory cell formed according to the embodiments of the present invention. That is, at least one memory cell includes a low tunnel barrier interpoly insulator according to the teachings of the present invention.

It will be understood that the embodiment shown inFIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment for electronic system circuitry in which the novel memory cells of the present invention are used. The illustration ofsystem801, as shown inFIG. 8, is intended to provide a general understanding of one application for the structure and circuitry of the present invention, and is not intended to serve as a complete description of all the elements and features of an electronic system using the novel memory cell structures. Further, the invention is equally applicable to any size and type ofmemory device801 using the novel memory cells of the present invention and is not intended to be limited to that described above. As one of ordinary skill in the art will understand, such an electronic system can be fabricated in single-package processing units, or even on a single semiconductor chip, in order to reduce the communication time between the processor and the memory device.

Applications containing the novel memory cell of the present invention as described in this disclosure include electronic systems for use in memory modules, device drivers, power modules, communication modems, processor modules, and application-specific modules, and may include multilayer, multichip modules. Such circuitry can further be a subcomponent of a variety of electronic systems, such as a clock, a television, a cell phone, a personal computer, an automobile, an industrial control system, an aircraft, and others.

CONCLUSION

The above structures and fabrication methods have been described, by way of example, and not by way of limitation, with respect to flash memory with low tunnel barrier interpoly insulators ultra thin body transistors.

It has been shown that the low tunnel barrier interpoly insulators of the present invention avoid the large barriers to electron tunneling or hot electron injection presented by the silicon oxide-silicon interface, 3.2 eV, which result in slow write and erase speeds even at very high electric fields. The present invention also avoids the combination of very high electric fields and damage by hot electron collisions in the which oxide result in a number of operational problems like soft erase error, reliability problems of premature oxide breakdown and a limited number of cycles of write and erase. Further, the low tunnel barrier interploy dielectric insulator erase approach, of the present invention remedies the above mentioned problems of having a rough top surface on the polysilicon floating gate which results in, poor quality interpoly oxides, sharp points, localized high electric fields, premature breakdown and reliability problems.

The above mentioned problems with flash memories and other problems are addressed by the present invention and will be understood by reading and studying the specification. Systems and methods are provided for flash memories with metal oxide and/or low tunnel barrier interpoly insulators.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the non-volatile memory includes a first source/drain region and a second source/drain region separated by a channel region in a substrate. A floating gate opposing the channel region and is separated therefrom by a gate oxide. A control gate opposes the floating gate. The control gate is separated from the floating gate by a low tunnel barrier intergate insulator. The low tunnel barrier intergate insulator includes a metal oxide insulator selected from the group consisting of PbO, Al₂O₃, Ta₂O₅, TiO₂, ZrO₂, and Nb₂O₅. The floating gate includes a polysilicon floating gate having a metal layer formed thereon in contact with the low tunnel barrier intergate insulator. And, the control gate includes a polysilicon control gate having a metal layer formed thereon in contact with the low tunnel barrier intergate insulator.

These and other embodiments, aspects, advantages, and features of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following description of the invention and referenced drawings or by practice of the invention. The aspects, advantages, and features of the invention are realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities, procedures, and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.