Structure and Method of Sub-Gate and Architectures Employing Bandgap Engineered SONOS Devices

Abstract

A bandgap engineered SONOS device structure for design with various AND architectures to perform a source side injection programming method. The BE-SONOS device structure comprises a spacer oxide disposed between a control gate overlaying an oxide-nitride-oxide-nitride-oxide stack and a sub-gate overlaying a gate oxide. In a first embodiment, a BE-SONOS sub-gate-AND array architecture is constructed multiple columns of SONONOS devices with sub-gate lines and diffusion bitlines. In a second embodiment, a BE-SONOS sub-gate-inversion-bitline-AND architecture is constructed multiple columns of SONONOS devices with sub-gate inversion bitlines and with no diffusion bitlines.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram illustrating a cross-sectional view of a single cell structure of an n-channel BE-SONOS device with sub-gate in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a circuit diagram illustrating a first embodiment of a BE-SONOS SG-AND array architecture with diffusion bitlines in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2B is a layout diagram illustrating the first embodiment of the BE-SONOS SG-AND array architecture with diffusion bitlines in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a layout diagram illustrating a cross-sectional view in channel length direction of the BE-SONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3B is a layout diagram 350 illustrating a cross-sectional view in channel width direction of the BE-SONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a circuit diagram illustrating an electrical reset for the SONONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4B is a graphical diagram illustrating a waveform of a self-converging reset in the first embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 5A is a circuit diagram illustrating an electrical program for the SONONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a layout diagram illustrating the electrical program for the SONONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6A is a circuit diagram illustrating an electrical erase for the SONONOS SG-AND array architecture of the first embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6B is a graphical diagram illustrating a waveform of a self-converging erase in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram illustrating a read operation for the SONONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 8A is a circuit diagram illustrating a second embodiment of a BE-SONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8B is a layout diagram illustrating the second embodiment of the BE-SONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 9A is a layout diagram illustrating the cross sectional view in channel length direction of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9B is a layout diagram illustrating the cross sectional view in channel width direction of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10A is a circuit diagram illustrating an electrical reset of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10B is a graphical diagram illustrating a waveform of a self-converging reset in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 11A is a circuit diagram illustrating an electrical program of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 11B is a layout diagram illustrating the electrical program for the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 12A is a circuit diagram illustrating an electrical erase of the BE-SONONS SGIB-AND array architecture of the second embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 12B is a graph diagram illustrating a waveform of a self-converging erase of the second embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 13A is a circuit diagram illustrating a read operation of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 13B is a layout diagram illustrating the read operation of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture of the second embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a structural diagram illustrating a cross-sectional view of a single cell structure of an n-channel BE-SONOS device 100 with sub-gate (SG). The n-channel BE-SONOS device 100 includes a spacer oxide (Os) 120 that is disposed between a control gate 110 and a sub-gate 130. An oxide-nitride-oxide-nitride-oxide (O₃—N₂—O₂—N₁—O₁) structure 140 is disposed underneath the control gate 110. A gate oxide O_SG 150 is disposed underneath the sub-gate 130. The O₃—N₂—O₂—N₁—O₁ structure 140 includes a blocking oxide O₃ 141, a charge storage layer N₂ 142, and a modulated tunnel dielectric O₂—N₁—O₁ 143-145. The bottom O₂—N₁—O₁ 143-145 layers provide hole tunneling current and good data retention.

The n-channel BE-SONOS device 100 is a five-terminal device with two gates, the control gate 110 and the sub-gate 130. Underneath the control gate 110, there is the O₃—N₂—O₂—N₁—O₁ structure 140 for the charge storage. Underneath the sub-gate 130, there is the non-trapping gate oxide 150. The control gate 110 can control program, erase, and read the charge storage layer. The sub-gate 130 can provide source side injection (SSI) programming method. The source side injection is a low-power and high-speed programming method. The O₁—N₁—O₂ layer can be implemented with ultra-thin oxide and nitride, typically within 3 nm to provide hole direct tunneling. The N2 layer 142 is thicker than 5 nm to provide higher trapping efficiency. In the layer 141 formation method, one technique is to use a wet converted top oxide to provide a large density of traps at the interface between O₃ and N₂. The O₃ layer is typically thicker than 6 nm in order to prevent charge loss from top oxide. The O₁—N₁—O₂ layers serve as a tunneling dielectric for the hole tunneling.

An exemplary set of device parameters for the n-channel BE-SONOS device 100 with the sub-gate 130 is shown below.

Bottom Oxide (O1)       15 A
Inter Nitride (N1)      20 A
Inter Oxide (O2)        18 A
Trapping Nitride (N2)   90 A
Gate Oxide for SG (OSG) 150 A
Spacer Oxide (OS)       200 A
Gate material           N+ - poly or
                        P+ - poly gate

In FIG. 2A, there is shown a circuit diagram illustrating a first embodiment of a BE-SONOS SG-AND array architecture 200 with diffusion bitlines. A plurality of SONONOS devices are connected in parallel to form the BE-SONOS SG-AND array architecture 200. The BE-SONOS array architecture 200 comprises a plurality of wordlines WL0210, WL1211, WL2212, WLm 213 intersecting a plurality of bitlines BL0220, BL1221, BL2222, BL3223, BL4224 and BLn 225. A corresponding sub-gate line is parallel and located nearby a bitline. A sub-gate SG1230 is located adjacent to the bitline BL0220. A sub-gate SG2231 is located adjacent to the bitline BL1221. A sub-gate SG3232 is located adjacent to the bitline BL2222. A sub-gate SG4233 is located adjacent to the bitline BL3223. A sub-gate SG5234 is located adjacent to the bitline BL4224. A sub-gate SGn 235 is located adjacent to the bitline BL5225. A sample BE-SONOS (or SONONOS) device 240 that functions as a memory cell is shown in a circled area.

As shown in FIG. 2B, there is a layout diagram 250 illustrating the first embodiment of the BE-SONOS SG-AND array architecture 200 with diffusion bitlines. Although each sub-gate SG is in parallel with a corresponding bitline, each SG has a slight offset from the corresponding bitline, e.g. the SG1230 is positioned slightly to the right of BL0220. Every bitline can either serve as a source or a drain. Each SG is positioned between two bitlines, e.g. the SG1230 between BL0220 and BL1221. Each bitline in the BL0220, BL1221, BL2222, BL3223, BL4224, and BL5225 can function as a source region or a drain region. Therefore, the SG1230 is disposed between the source region in the BL0220 and the drain region in the BL1221. The parameters W 240 and Ws 242 are approximately equal to the parameter F, where the parameter F denotes the critical dimension in a technology node. For example, the parameter F is equal to 50 nm for a 50 nm node.

FIG. 3A is a layout diagram 300 illustrating a cross-sectional view in channel length direction of the BE-SONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment. The spacer oxide 120 separates the control gate 110 and the sub-gate 130. The O₃—N₂—O₂—N₁—O₁ structure 140 is disposed underneath the control gate 110. The gate oxide O_SG 150 is disposed underneath the gate 130. A suitable implementation of the control gate 110 is poly-1, and a suitable implementation of the sub-gate 130 is poly-2. N+ buried diffusion (BD) wells 330, 332, 334 and 336 are implemented for diffusion bitlines (BLs). In the layout diagram 300, a first cell structure comprises the control gate 110 and the sub-gate 130, with an adjacent and second cell structure that comprises a gate 310 and a sub-gate 312, with an adjacent and third cell structure that comprises a gate 320 and a sub-gate 322.

In FIG. 3B, there is shown a layout diagram 350 illustrating a cross-sectional view in channel width direction of the BE-SONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment. The gap between the gate 310 and the gate 320 is denoted by a parameter Ws 360 which provides isolation between the gate 310 and the gate 320. Other similar isolations are shown between two gates to provide an isolation between two gates. The pitch in the channel width direction is approximately equal to 2F smaller than that in channel length direction 3F caused by a diffusion bitline. Therefore, the BE-SONOS SG-AND architecture is approximately equal to 6F² per cell.

FIG. 4A is a circuit diagram 400 illustrating an electrical reset for the SONONOS SG-AND array architecture of the first embodiment. During the electrical reset, the wordlines (or gates) WL0210, WL1211, WL2212, and WLm 213 are set to—10 volts, the bitlines BL0220, BL1221, BL2222, BL3223, BL4224 and BL5225 are left floating, and the sub-gates SG1230, SG2231, SG3232, SG4233, SG5234, and SGn 235 are set to 0 volt. 1n one embodiment, the odd number sub-gates are electrically connected together, including SG1230, SG3232 and SG5234, while the even number sub-gates are electrically connected together, including SG2231, SG4233 and SGn 235. Before operations, the memory circuit 400 is reset by applying Vgb=−15V (or partition the gate voltage into each WL and p-well), which produces a desirable self-converging property, as shown in a graph 450 in FIG. 4B. Even if the BE-SONOS device is initially charged to various Vt, the reset operation can tighten these initial points to the reset/erase state. A typical reset time is around 100 msec. In one example, the n-channel BE-SONOS with ONONO=15/20/18/70/90 Angstrom, and a N+-poly gate. Lg/W=0.22/0.16 um.

To state in another way, a reset operation is carried out to tighten the Vt distribution before operations. In contrast to a floating gate device where there is no self-converging erase, the BE-SONOS provides a self-converging erase reset/erase methods, which is necessary because the initial Vt distribution is often widely distributed due to the process issues, such as plasma charging effect. The self-converging reset assists in tighten the initial Vt distribution.

FIG. 5A is a circuit diagram 500 illustrating an electrical program for the SONONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment, while FIG. 5B is a layout diagram 550 illustrating the electrical program for the SONONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment. In one example during electrical program, the wordline WL1211 is set to 10 volts while the other wordlines WL0210, WL2212, and WLm 213 are set 0 volt. The bitline BL1221 is set to 5 volts, and the bitlines BL0220, BL2222, BL3223, BL4224, and BLn 225 are set to 0 volt. The odd number sub-gates SG1230, SG3232 and SG5234 are set to 1 volt, while the even number sub-gates SG2231, SG4233, and SOn 235 are set to 0 volt. The bitlines BL0220, BL1221, BL2222, BL3223, BL4224 and BL5225 provide a greater flexibility in programming than sub-gates SG1230, SG2231, SG3232, SG4233, SG5234, and SGn 235 because each bitline can be independently programmed, while the sub-gates are programmed based on the even number or odd number of sub-gates. One type of electrical programming method is a source side injection. The source side injection programs a cell to a high voltage threshold Vt state. For example, the source injection applies Vg=10V to the selected WL1, Vg=0V to other wordlines, SG=1V for programming, and SG=0V for inhibition. The voltage setting of the SG voltage at 1 volt is intended as an illustration such that in general it is typically 0.5 to 2 volts higher than the threshold voltage under SG gate.

When a cell-A 422 is selected programming, the SG is set to 1 volt so that the channel underneath SG is slightly turned on. Electrons are injected into the cell-A 422 by source side injection method to make the voltage threshold, Vt, higher than PV. The SG for a cell-B 424 is set to 0 volt which turns SG off so that there is no injection into the cell-B 424. As for a cell-C 426, the SG is set to 1 volt where the WL=0 volt which turns off cell-C 426 so that there is also no injection into the cell-C 426. As a result, programming can be randomly selected with adequate program inhibit technique.

To carry out an electrical program, the selected wordline is applied a high voltage, 10 volts, and the sub-gate is applied 1 volt to perform a source side injection. The source side injection is a low-power and high-speed programming method. One of skill in the art should recognize that parallel programming methods such as page programming with 2 kB cells in parallel can burst the programming throughput to more than 10 MB per second while the cell current consumption can be controlled within 2 mA. To avoid program disturbance to other bitlines, the sub-gate SG2231 is set to 0 volt and turns off the inhibit cell.

As illustrated in FIG. 6A, there is a circuit diagram 600 showing an electrical erase for the SONONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment. The erase operation is executed similar to the reset operation. During electrical erase, the wordlines WL0210, WL1211, WL2212, and WLm 213 are set to −10 volts, the bitlines BL0220, BL1221, BL2222, BL3223, BL4224 and BL5225 are left floating, and the sub-gates SG1230, SG2231, SG3232, SG4233, SG5234, and SGn 235 are set to 0 volt. The erase operation is performed in the unit of a sector or block. The BE-SONOS device produces desirable self-converging erase property, as shown in a graph 650 in FIG. 6B. The erase saturation Vt is dependent on the parameter Vg. A higher Vg causes a higher saturated Vt. The convergent time is typically around 10 to 100 msec.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram 700 illustrating a read operation for the SONONOS SG-AND array architecture in the first embodiment. In one example during a read operation of the cell-A 422, the wordline WL1211 is set to 5 volts while the other wordlines WL0210, WL2212, and WLm 213 are set 0 volt. The bitline BL1221 is set to 1 volt, and the bitlines BL0220, BL2222, BL3223, BL4224, and BLn 225 are set to 0 volt. The odd number sub-gates SG1230, SG3232 and SG5234 are set to 3 volts, while the even number sub-gates SG2231 and SG4233 are set to 0 volt. A read operation is performed by applying a gate voltage that is between an erased state Vt (EV) and a programmed state Vt (PV). The gate voltage is typically around 5 volts. Alternatively, the gate voltage can be selected to be more than 5 volts or less than 5 volts, provided the gate voltage falls in the range of a high Vt value and a low Vt value. If Vt of the cell-A 422 is higher than 5 volts, then the read current is likely to be a very small value (e.g., <0.1 μA). If Vt of the cell-A 422 is less than 5 volts, the read current is likely to be a high value (e.g., >0.1 μA).

The applied voltage at a bitline (BL) is typically around 1 volt. A larger read voltage will induce more current, but the read disturbance may be larger. The WL number of SG-AND string is typically 64, 128, or 256. A larger number of SG-AND string may save more overhead and increase the array efficiency. However, the program distribution may be larger. A trade-off is weighed in choosing an adequate number of SG-AND string.

Although the above read function describes a random access read operation, one of ordinary skill in the art should recognize that a page read of multiple cells are possible without departing from the spirits of the present invention.

Turning now to FIG. 8A, there is shown a circuit diagram 800 illustrating a second embodiment a BE-SONOS (or SONONOS) SGIB-AND (Sub-gate Inversion Bitline-AND) array architecture, while FIG. 8B is a layout diagram 850 illustrating the second embodiment of the BE-SONOS SGIB-AND array architecture. The term SGIB means that a bitline is formed from an inversion layer by turning on a sub-gate. Unlike the first embodiment where the BE-SONOS structure as shown in the layout diagram 300 has a N+ buried diffusion, the SONOS SGIB-AND cell structure has no N+ buried diffusion, as shown in FIG. 9, and therefore, there is no offset between a bitline and a sub-gate. The SONONOS devices are connected in parallel to form an AND array with SG in which there are no diffusion bitlines.

The BE-SONOS array architecture 800 comprises a plurality of wordlines WL0810, WL1811, WL2812, WLm 813 intersecting a plurality of bitlines BL0820, BL1821, BL2822, BL3823 and BL4824. A corresponding sub-gate line is parallel to each bitline. A sub-gate SG0830 is placed in parallel to the bitline BL0820. A sub-gate SG1831 is placed in parallel to the bitline BL1821. A sub-gate SG2832 is placed in parallel to the bitline BL2822. A sub-gate SG3833 is placed in parallel to the bitline BL3823. A sample BE-SONOS (or SONONOS) device 840 that functions as a memory cell is shown in a circled area.

In the SGIB-AND array architecture 850, every fourth sub-gates are commonly electrically connected, i.e. the SG0830, SG4834, SG8, etc. are electrically connected together, the SG1831, SG5, SG9, etc are electrically connected together, the SG2832, SG6, SG10, etc are electrically connected together, and the SG3833, SG7, SG11, etc are electrically connected together.

As shown in the layout diagram 850 in FIG. 8B, there are no N+ region underneath each of the SG0830, the SG1831, the SG 832, the SG3833, the SG4834, and the SG 835 in the memory array of the SGIB-AND architecture 800. The overall dimension of a cell size in the SGIB-AND architecture 800 is reduced relative to a cell size as shown in the SG-AND array architecture 200 in FIG. 2A.

When the SG0830, the SG1831, the SG2832, the SG3833, the SG4834, and the SG 835 are turned on, each creates an N-channel inversion layer, which effectively serves as a barrier diffusion layer to function, respectively, as a source/drain 860, a source/drain 861, a source/drain 862, a source/drain 863, a source/drain 864 and a source/drain 865. Each sub-gate in the SG0830, the SG1831, the SG2832, the SG3833, the SG4834, and the SG 835 therefore serves dual functions. The first function that each sub-gate in the SG0830, the SG1831, the SG2832, the SG3833, the SG4834, and the SG 835 serves is a sub-gate for a source side injection programming. The second function that each sub-gate in the SG0830, the SG1831, the SG2832, the SG3833, the SG4834, and the SG 835 serves is an inversion bitline when a subgate is turned on. Each source/drain in the source/drain 860, the source/drain 861, the source/drain 862, the source/drain 863, the source/drain 864, and the source/drain 865 is for connecting to a metal bitline. The symbol Lg 870 denotes the drawn channel length. The symbol W 874 denotes the channel width. Typically, the parameters W 874, Ws 876, Lg 870, Ls 872 are approximately equal to the parameter F, where the parameter F represents the critical dimension in a technology node. For example, the parameter F is equal to 50 nm for a 50 nm node.

As shown in FIG. 9A, there is a layout diagram 900 illustrating the cross sectional view in channel length direction of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment, while FIG. 9B is a layout diagram illustrating the cross sectional view in channel width direction of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment. Each subgate SG in SG 910, SG 912, SG 914, SG 916 and SG 918 has no implant of source region or drain region, which means that there is no N+ region underneath each subgate SG in SG 910, SG 912, SG 914, SG 916 and SG 918. The pitch in a channel width direction is approximately equal to that in a channel length direction 2F. Therefore, the BE-SONOS SGIB-AND architecture is approximately equal to 4F² per cell.

In FIG. 10A, there is a circuit diagram illustrating an electrical reset of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture 1000 in the second embodiment. During the electrical reset, the wordlines (or gates) WL0810, WL1811, WL2812, and WLm 813 are set to −10 volts, the bitlines BL0820, BL1821, BL2822, BL3823, BL4824 and BL5825 are left floating, the sub-gates SG0830, SG1831, SG2832, SG3833, SG4834, and SGn 835 are set to 0 volt, and P-well 1010 is set to 5 volts. When a sub-gate SG=is equal to zero volt, that means the SG is not turned on so that there is no inversion bitline. In one embodiment, every fourth sub-gates are connected together such that SG0830 is connected to SG4, SG1831 is connected to SG5, and so on.

Before operations, the memory circuit 1000 is reset by applying Vgb=−15V (or partition the gate voltage into each WL and p-well), which produces a desirable self-converging property, as shown in the graph 1050 in FIG. 10B. Various circles and triangles in the graph 1050 represent different initial points over a wide distribution where these points converges to a threshold voltage Vt. Even if the BE-SONOS device is initially charged to various Vt, the reset operation can tighten these initial points to the reset/erase state. A typical reset time is around 100 msec. In one example, the n-channel BE-SONOS device with ONONO=15/20/18/70/90 Angstrom, and a N+-poly gate. Lg/W=0.22/0.16 um.

To phrase in another way, a reset operation is carried out to tighten the Vt distribution before operations. In contrast to a floating gate device where there is no self-converging erase, the BE-SONOS provides a self-converging erase reset/erase methods, which is necessary because the initial Vt distribution is often widely distributed due to the process issues, such as plasma charging effect. The self-converging reset assists in tighten the initial Vt distribution.

As illustrated in FIG. 11A, there is a circuit diagram illustrating an electrical program of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture 1100 in the second embodiment, while FIG. 11B is a layout diagram 1150 illustrating the electrical program for the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment. In one example during electrical program of a cell A 1110, the wordline WL1811 is set to 10 volts while the other wordlines WL0810, WL2812, and WLm 813 are set 0 volt. The bitlines BL0820, BL1821, and BL3823 are left floating. The bitline BL2 is set to 0 volt, and the bitline BL4 is set to 5 volts. The sub-gates SG0830 and SG4834 are set to 8 volts. The sub-gate SG1 is set to 0 volt, the sub-gate SG2 is set to 5 volts, and the sub-gate SG3 is set to 1 volt.

The bitlines BL0820, BL1821, BL2822, BL3823, and BL4824 provide a greater flexibility in programming than sub-gates SG0830, SG1831, SG2832, SG3833 and SG4834 because each bitline can be independently programmed. One type of electrical programming method is a source side injection. The source side injection programs a cell to a high voltage threshold Vt state. For example, the source injection applies Vg=10 V to the selected WL1, Vg=0V to other WL's, SG=1V for programming and SG=0V for inhibition. The voltage setting of the SG voltage at 1 volt is intended as an illustration such that in general it is 0.5 to 2 volts higher than the threshold voltage under SG gate.

To carry out an electrical program, the selected wordline is applied a high voltage, 10 volts, and the sub-gate SG3833 is applied 1 volt to perform a source side injection to program a target cell. The SG1831 is set to 0 volt for program inhibit and the SG4834 is set to 8 volts to provide sufficient overdrive to reduce a bitline resistance. One of skill in the art should recognize that parallel programming methods such as page programming with 2 kB cells in parallel can burst the programming throughput to more than 10 MB per second while the cell current consumption can be controlled within 2 mA. To avoid program disturbance to other bitlines, the sub-gate SG2231 is set to 0 volt and turns off the inhibit cell.

The electrical programming is to conduct a source side injection to program a cell to a high voltage threshold, Vt, state. For example in the electrical programming of the cell A 1110, the operations apply Vg=10 V to the selected WL₁ 811, apply Vg=0V to other wordlines including WL0810, WL2812 and WLm 813, set SG3=1V for programming, set SG1=0V for program inhibition, and set SG2=5V for pass gate. The sub-gate SG4834 is set to 8 volt to highly turn on the sub-gate SG4834 so that the inversion layer potential can be raised up to 5 volts. In programming the cell A 1110, the sub-gate SG3833 is set to 1 volt so that the source side injection occurs. The threshold voltage Vt is raised to above the programming voltage, PV. A program inhibition is provided to a cell-B 1012, a cell-C 1014 and a cell-D 1016.

FIG. 12A is a circuit diagram 1200 illustrating an electrical erase of the BE-SONONS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment, while FIG. 12B is a graph diagram 1250 illustrating a desirable self-converging erase property with respect to the second embodiment. The erase operation is similar to the reset operation. During electrical erase, the wordlines WL0810, WL1811, WL2812, and WLm 813 are set to −10 volts, the bitlines BL0820, BL1821, BL2822, BL3823, BL4824 and BL5825 are left floating, and the sub-gates SG2830, SG1831, SG2832, SG3833, SG4834 are set to 0 volt. The electrical erase is performed in the unit of a sector or block. The BE-SONOS device produces a desirable self-converging erase property, as shown in a graph diagram 1250 in FIG. 6B. The erase saturation Vt is dependent on Vg. A higher Vg causes a higher saturated Vt. The convergent time is typically around 10 to 100 msec.

FIG. 13A is a circuit diagram 1300 illustrating a read operation of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment, while FIG. 13B is a layout diagram 1350 illustrating the read operation of the SONONOS SGIB-AND array architecture in the second embodiment. In one example during a read operation of the cell A 1110, the wordline WL1811 is set to 5 volts while the other wordlines WL0810, WL2812, and WLm 813 are set 0 volt. The bitlines BL0820, BL1821, and FL4824 are left floating. The bitline BL2822 is set to 0 volt and the bitline BL3823 is set to 1 volt. The sub-gates SG0830, SG1831, and SG4834 are set to 0 volts, while SG2832 and SG3833 are set to 5 volts. A read operation is performed by applying a gate voltage that is between an erased state Vt (EV) and a programmed state Vt (PV). The gate voltage is typically around 5 volts. Alternatively, the gate voltage can be selected to be more than 5 volts or less than 5 volts, provided the gate voltage falls in the range of a high Vt value and a low Vt value. If Vt of the cell-A 422 is higher than 5 volts, then the read current is likely to be a very small value (e.g., <0.1 μA). If Vt of the cell-A 422 is less than 5 volts, the read current is likely to be a high value (e.g., >0.1 μA). The state of a memory can then be identified.

The applied voltage at a bitline (BL) is typically around 1 volt. A larger read voltage will induce more current, but the read disturbance may be larger. The WL number of SG-AND string is typically 64, 128, or 256. A larger number of SG-AND string may save more overhead and increase the array efficiency. However, the program distribution may be larger. A trade-off is weighed in choosing an adequate number of SGIB-AND string.

Although the above read function describes a random access read operation, one of ordinary skill in the art should recognize that a page read of multiple cells are possible without departing from the spirits of the present invention. The invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments. Various modifications, adaptations, and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded as illustrative of the principles of this invention rather than restrictive, the invention is defined by the following appended claims.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit device comprising: a semiconductor substrate;a plurality of memory cells on the semiconductor substrate, each memory cell having a spacer dielectric layer disposed between a gate and a sub-gate, each gate overlaying a blocking oxide-charge storage layer-modulated tunnel dielectric stack, each sub-gate overlaying a gate oxide; andan N+ buried diffusion disposed in the semiconductor substrate and positioned underneath between a first gate oxide and a first blocking oxide-charge storage layer-modulated tunnel dielectric stack that serves as a first diffusion bitline.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1 wherein the modulated tunnel dielectric stack comprises an oxide-nitride-oxide (O2—N1—O1) stack.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 2 wherein the O2—N1—O1 stack comprises a substantially thin oxide and nitride layers.

4. An integrated circuit device comprising: a semiconductor substrate; anda plurality of memory cells on the semiconductor substrate, each memory cell having a spacer oxide disposed between a gate and a sub-gate, each gate overlaying a blocking oxide-charge storage layer-modulated tunnel dielectric stack, each sub-gate overlaying a gate oxide;wherein a first sub-gate serving as source side injection during programming when the first sub-gate is a slightly turn-on state; andwherein the first sub-gate serving as an inversion layer for connection to a first metal bitline when the first sub-gate is an ON state.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 4 wherein the modulated tunnel dielectric stack comprises an oxide-nitride-oxide (O2—N1—O1) stack.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 5 wherein the O2—N1—O1 stack comprises a substantially thin oxide and nitride layers.

7. A SG-AND array architecture comprising: a memory array having a plurality of columns of SONONOS devices that are connected in parallel;a plurality of sub-gate lines, each sub-gate line connecting to a corresponding column of SONONOS devices; anda plurality of diffusion bitlines, each diffusion bitline connecting to a corresponding column of SONONOS devices.

8. The SG-AND array architecture of claim 7 wherein the plurality of sub-gate lines are used for source side injection during programming.

9. The SG-AND array architecture of claim 7 wherein the odd number of sub-gate lines are commonly electrically connected.

10. The SG-AND array architecture of claim 7 wherein the even number of sub-gate lines are commonly electrically connected

11. A SGIB-AND array structure comprising: a memory array having a plurality of columns of SONONOS devices that are connected in parallel structured, the memory array having no diffusion bitlines; anda plurality of sub-gate lines, each sub-gate line connecting to a corresponding column of SONONOS devices.

12. The SGIB-And array architecture of claim 11 wherein the plurality of sub-gate lines are used for source side injection during programming when the plurality of sub-gate lines are in an off state.

13. The SGIB-And array architecture of claim 11 wherein each of the plurality of sub-gate lines functions as inversion layers for connection to a respective metal bitline when the plurality of sub-gate lines are in an ON state.

14. The SGIB-AND array architecture of claim 11 wherein the plurality of sub-gate lines in which every Nth sub-gate lines are commonly electrically connected.

15. The SGIB-AND array architecture of claim 11 wherein the plurality of sub-gate lines in which every 4th sub-gate lines are commonly electrically connected.

16. A memory cell structure comprising: a spacer oxide having a first sidewall and a second sidewall;a sub-gate extending horizontally to the first sidewall of the spacer oxide;an oxide-nitride-oxide (O1—N1—O2) stack extending horizontally to the second sidewall of the spacer oxide; anda control gate overlaying a third oxide layer O3 and extending horizontally to the second side wall of the spacer oxide.

17. The memory structure of claim 16 further comprising a gate oxide underlying the sub-gate and extending horizontally to the first sidewall of the spacer oxide.

18. The memory structure of claim 17 further comprising a second nitride layer N2 disposed between the control gate and the second oxide layer O2, the second nitride layer N2 extending horizontally to the second sidewall of the spacer oxide, the second nitride layer N2 serving as a charge storage layer.

19. The memory structure of claim 18 further comprising a third oxide layer O3 disposed between the control gate and the second nitride layer N2, the third oxide layer extending horizontally to the second side wall of the spacer oxide, the third oxide layer O3 serving as a blocking oxide.

20. The memory structure of claim 19 wherein the O1—N3—O2 stack comprises substantially thin layers of oxide and nitride.

21. The memory structure of claim 20 wherein the each of the first oxide layer O1, the first nitride layer N1, and the second oxide layer O2 is less than 3 nm.

22. A method for operating an AND memory array having columns of bandgap engineered SONOS (BE-SONOS) devices, each column of BE-SONOS devices corresponding to a sub-gate line and a wordline, comprising: resetting a plurality of BE-SONOS devices in the AND memory array, the plurality of BE-SONOS devices producing a self-converging reset to reset a threshold voltage Vt value;programming electrically a selected BE-SONOS device in a first column of the BE-SONOS devices, the first column of the BE-SONOS devices corresponding to a first wordline which is applied a high voltage, the first column of the BE-SONOS devices corresponding to a first sub-gate line which is applied a low voltage to perform source side injection; anderasing electrically the plurality of BE-SONOS devices in the AND memory array, the plurality of BE-SONOS devices producing a self-converging erase to the reset voltage threshold Vt value.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising reading the selected BE-SONOS device, wherein the voltage of the first wordline is raised to a voltage that is between an erases state level and a program state level.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the first sub-gate line serving as source side injection during programming when the first sub-gate line is a slightly turn-on state.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein the first sub-gate line serving as an inversion layer for connection to a first metal bitline when the first sub-gate line is an ON state.

26. The method of claim 22 wherein the low voltage applied to the first sub-gate line is 1-2 volt.