Characterization of MONOS nonvolatile memory by solid phase crystallization on glass

Solid phase crystallization (SPC) is carried out because of the best uniformity among the various crystallization methods. SPC poly-Si nonvolatile memory (NVM) is expected superior memory property in terms of stable reliability. This paper presents electrical properties of SPC poly-Si NVM on glass. Nonvolatile memory is an ideal portable storage device due to its characteristics of low-power consumption and compact size. Metal/oxide/nitride/oxide/silicon (MONOS) structure memory was fabricated on glass. Silicon oxynitride (SiOxNy) layer grown by nitrous oxide plasma served as a carrier tunnel layer, silicon nitride (SiNx) as charge trap region and silicon dioxide (SiO2) for blocking oxide were deposited to fabricate NVM on SPC poly-Si. SiOxNy, SiNx, and SiO2 films were deposited by using inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD). Electrical properties of NVM on glass were analyzed gate voltage–drain current (VG–ID) and charge retention property. We obtained the NVM device with the programming voltage of −12 V, erasing of 11 V, and fast programming/erasing (P/E) time of 1 ms. It has a threshold voltage window memory of about 3.7 V and it still keep a wide threshold voltage window of 2.3 V after 10 years.