Numerical Simulation of Trapped Hole Lateral Migration and Induced Threshold Voltage Retention Loss in a SONOS Flash Memory

We establish a one-dimensional transient simulation to study trapped hole lateral migration in the silicon nitride of a silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) flash memory cell. In our model, the nitride traps have a continuous energy distribution. Trapped hole emissions to the valence band of the silicon nitride, free hole recapture into the nitride traps, and hole drift-diffusion in the valance band are included in the simulation. Two major trapped hole emission processes, thermally assisted tunneling (ThAT) and the Frenkel-Poole emission are considered. We simulate trapped hole lateral migration in a SONOS cell with program electrons stored at the source side and erase holes at the drain side. Our simulation shows that the ThAT is a dominant transport mechanism for trapped hole lateral migration in retention. We also simulate a threshold voltage (Vt) retention loss due to trapped hole lateral migration at different program levels. The trend of the simulated Vt retention loss is consistent with the measurement result.