Study of the gate-sensing and channel-sensing transient analysis method for monitoring the charge vertical location of SONOS-type devices

Abstract

The gate-sensing and channel-sensing transient analysis method is studied in detail. This method introduces an additional gate-sensing capacitor to be compared with the conventional channel-sensing one. Sensing in both modes provides two equations that are suitable to solve for two variables-the charge density (Q) and the average charge vertical location (x). In this paper, the principle of this method is discussed in detail. Several factors that affect the measurement accuracy are also analyzed. The power of this method is demonstrated by program/erase cycling and data retention tests. This method is indeed a powerful tool for detailed understanding of trapping dynamics.