title: A study of cycling induced degradation mechanisms in Si nanocrystal memory devices.
abstract: The endurance of Si nanocrystal memory devices under Fowler-Nordheim program and erase (P/E) cycling is investigated. Both threshold voltage (V(th)) and subthreshold swing (SS) degradation are observed when using a high program or erase voltage. The change of SS is found to be proportional to the shift of V(th), indicating that the generation of interface traps plays a dominant role. The charge pumping and the mid-gap voltage methods have been used to analyze endurance degradation both qualitatively and quantitatively. It is concluded that high erase voltage causes severe threshold voltage degradation by generating more interface traps and trapped oxide charges.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dandan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Manhong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zongliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huo
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhaoan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Xiaonan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Junning
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu