Bor-Zen Tien

High-Density FinFET One-Time Programmable Memory Cell With Intra-Fin-Cell-Isolation Technology

The one-time programmable (OTP) cell with intra-Fin-cell-isolation (IFCI) on the FinFET high-k metal gate (HKMG) CMOS process is proposed and demonstrated. The field-enhanced dielectric breakdown at Fin corners enables this OTP cell to be operated at low program voltage with fast program speed. The new intra-Fin cell-to-cell isolation eliminates the required wide spacing in the conventional isolation schemes, which successfully shields the neighboring cells from program and read disturbs. Without introducing extra masks or process steps, the CMOS compatible IFCI OTP cell achieves an ultrasmall cell size of 0.076 μm2. More than six orders of ON-/OFF-read window is achieved under 4 V programming within 20 μs.