Embedded NVM Devices with Solid-Phase Crystallized Poly-Si Film on a Glass Substrate for System-on-Panel Applications

Abstract

Embedded nonvolatile memory (NVM) devices with solid-phase crystallized polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films and an oxide–nitride–oxynitride (ONOn) stack structure on a glass panel were fabricated and investigated for system-on-panel applications. Memory-in-pixel and memory blocks are expected to be integrated in display panels as the integration of display systems progresses. Poly-Si thin-film transistor technology and a low temperature method to deposit an ultrathin tunneling layer using plasma-assisted oxynitridation were used to fabricate embedded poly-Si NVM devices on glass panels. A memory window from +2.4to−1.72V was obtained at a low operating voltage with an erasing voltage of +11V and a programming voltage of −10V . Moreover, an extrapolation of the performance of the fabricated poly-Si NVM device suggests that it retains a threshold voltage window of more than 80% between the programming and erasing states up to 10years . The results demonstrate that the proposed devices with poly-Si layers using solid-phase crystallization and ONOn stack structures have suitable switching and retention characteristics for data storage applicable to real flat-panel display applications.

High performance nonvolatile memory using SiO2/SiOx/SiOxNy stack on excimer laser-annealed polysilicon and the effect of blocking thickness on operation voltage

“…The memory window retention values are listed in table 2. They are similar in charge retaining ability when compared with other reported results using ONOn stacks on solid phase crystallization polysilicon [2,11] and prominent floating gate structures [12,13]. The first benefit comes from the uniform SiO x N y tunnelling layer which grows from a polysilicon surface using the plasma treatment process.…”

Fabrication of SiO2/SiOx/SiOxNy Non-Volatile Memory with Transparent Amorphous Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide Channels

“…14 Several types of NVM using a-Si as active layer were fabricated but the a-Si thin films has low mobility. [16][17][18][19] However, the poly-Si thin films and their electronic applications, such as TFTs and NVM devices, have high cost, need high deposition temperature, and require additional complex processing along with a significantly nonuniform surface over a large area. [16][17][18][19] However, the poly-Si thin films and their electronic applications, such as TFTs and NVM devices, have high cost, need high deposition temperature, and require additional complex processing along with a significantly nonuniform surface over a large area.…”

Programming and Erasing Operations of Nitride-Nitride-Oxynitride Stacked Thin Film Transistor Device

“…In our NNOn structure, the negative voltage biased during the programming operation is considered to accumulate a positive charge inside the NNOn structure due to injection of the hole from the poly-Si layer. 18 This charge acted as a positive fixed charge, which made the leakage current increase when the gate voltage was less than the threshold voltage after the programming operation. Figure 3 shows V G − I D characteristics of the NNOn TFT after the programming and erasing operations as a function of operating voltage.…”

“…The oxynitride layer was prepared from oxynitridation using only nitrous oxygen plasma without the introduction of a Si material source. In a previous report, Jung et al 18 showed that the oxynitride films deposited by plasma-assisted oxynitridation were extremely uniform in thickness and were parallel to the poly-Si. The nitride layers have to synthesize with a different energy bandgap for charge storage using a bandgap offset.…”