Improved charge trapping flash device with Al2O3/HfSiO stack as blocking layer

In this paper, we investigate an Al2O3/HfSiO stack as the blocking layer of a metal-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon-type (MONOS) memory capacitor. Compared with a memory capacitor with a single HfSiO layer as the blocking layer or an Al2O3/HfO2 stack as the blocking layer, the sample with the Al2O3/HfSiO stack as the blocking layer shows high program/erase (P/E) speed and good data retention characteristics. These improved performances can be explained by energy band engineering. The experimental results demonstrate that the memory device with an Al2O3/HfSiO stack as the blocking layer has great potential for further high-performance nonvolatile memory applications.