Assessment methodology of the lateral migration component in data retention of 3D SONOS memories

A new procedure to assess the impact of lateral charge migration from the overall retention transient is developed. This experimental procedure is designed to be applied on any 3D NAND string, and does not require devices specifically designed; this allows to assess the impact of lateral migration in realistic conditions. The experimental procedure relies on comparing retention loss of a standard sample with a “control sample” not suffering from lateral migration, thanks to a pre-conditioning operation. The pre-conditioning procedure to obtain the control samples is discussed in detail and demonstrated through measurements and simulations.