Yong-Sik Yim

A 21 nm High Performance 64 Gb MLC NAND Flash Memory With 400 MB/s Asynchronous Toggle DDR Interface

A monolithic 64 Gb MLC NAND flash based on 21 nm process technology has been developed. The device consists of 4-plane arrays and provides page size of up to 32 KB. It also features a newly developed asynchronous DDR interface that can support up to the maximum bandwidth of 400 MB/s. To improve performance and reliability, on-chip randomizer, soft data readout, and incremental bit line pre-charge scheme have been developed.

Integration Technology of 30nm Generation Multi-Level NAND Flash for 64Gb NAND Flash Memory

Multi-level NAND flash memories with a 38 nm design rule have been successfully developed for the first time. A breakthrough patterning technology of Self Aligned Double Patterning (SADP) together with ArF lithography is applied to three critical lithographic steps. Other key integration technologies include low thermal budget ILD process and twisted bit-line contact for excellent isolation between adjacent bit lines. Hemi-Cylindrical FET (HCFET) together with charge trapping memory cell of Si/SiO2 /SiN/Al2O3/TaN (TANOS) was found to be effective in sufficing various electrical requirements of 30 nm generation flash cells. Finally, MLC operation is successfully demonstrated with flash cells of 8 Gb density in which all the technologies aforementioned are combined.

A 0.15 /spl mu/m NAND flash technology with 0.11 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ cell size for 1 Gbit flash memory

A new 1 Gb NAND flash technology with high-aspect-ratio floating gate, tungsten bit line and poly-Si source line has been developed. It is fabricated using 0.15 /spl mu/m photolithography, shallow trench isolation (STI), highly selective gate etching, damascene and chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) processes. Since thick poly-Si is deposited and its sidewall has an inclined profile by anisotropic etching, narrow floating gate space (/spl sim/80 nm) under the design rule and a high coupling ratio (/spl sim/0.75) are obtained. To interconnect the NAND cell array, the poly-Si source is connected to every string as a common line and the tungsten bit line is damascened over the entire string. These double-layer interconnections lead to simple process and reduced steps. Thus, for the first time, a prototype 1 Gb NAND flash memory with an extremely small cell size of 0.11 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ has been achieved.

70nm NAND flash technology with 0.025 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ cell size for 4Gb flash memory

A 4 Gb NAND flash memory with a 70 nm design rule is developed for mass storage applications. The cell size is 0.025 /spl mu/m/sup 2/, which is the smallest value ever reported. For the integration, an ArF lithography process along with resolution enhancing techniques was utilized, and poly-Si/W gate technology with an optimized re-oxidation process was implemented.

Highly manufacturable 1 Gb NAND flash using 0.12 /spl mu/m process technology

An 1 Gb NAND flash memory has been successfully developed by integrating new technologies, inverse narrow-width effect (INWE) suppression scheme, 32-cell NAND flash combined with the scaling-down of tunnel oxide, inter-poly ONO, and gate poly re-oxidation. It is implemented using KrF photolithography along with a resolution enhancing technique, the planarized surface by etch-back and CMP processes, highly selective contact etching and nonoverlapped dual damascene metallization. Thus, for the first time, a 1 Gb NAND flash memory with mass-producible chip size of 132 mm/sup 2/, lower Vcc operation below 1.8 V and lower power consumption, has been obtained.

7.5 A 128Gb 2b/cell NAND flash memory in 14nm technology with tPROG=640µs and 800MB/s I/O rate

NAND flash memory is widely used as a cost-effective storage with high performance [1-2]. This paper presents a 128Gb multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory with a 150 cells/string structure in 14nm CMOS that can be used as a cost-effective storage device. This paper also introduces several approaches to compensate for reliability and performance degradations caused by the 14nm transistors and the 150 cells/string structure. A technique was developed to suppress the background pattern dependency (BPD) by applying a low voltage to upper word lines (WLs) - the drain side(SSL side) WLs with respect to the location of the selected WL - during the verify sequence. Two techniques are also used to improve the program performance: equilibrium pulse scheme and smart start bias control scheme (SBC) in the MSB page. In addition, the first cycle recovery (FCR) of read enable (RE) and the bi-directional data strobe (DQS) is used to achieve a high speed I/O rate. As a result, a 640μs program time and a 800MB/s I/O rate is achieved.

Comparison of double patterning technologies in NAND flash memory with sub-30nm node

Fine patterning technologies - E-beam lithography, SPT (Spacer Patterning Technology) and SaDPT (Self aligned Double Patterning Technology)-have been introduced to develop a single unit of nano-scale MOSFET. However, in order to achieve manufacturable high density NAND Flash memories, the merits and demerits of each technology should be considered in three points of view: device characteristics, process controllability and mass production. In this paper, we suggest the appropriate technology for particular cell types, CTF(Charge Trap Flash) cell, floating poly-Si gate cell, and for process steps such as active, gate and bit-line.