PHYSICAL MODEL FOR CHARACTERIZING AND SIMULATING A FLOTOX EEPROM DEVICE

Abstract

A physical model has been developed to analyze the dynamic characteristics of a FLOTOX EEPROM device. The effects of the structural parameters such as the area and thickness of the tunneling-oxide and interpoly-oxide layers are characterized by a coupling ratio to describe the discrete programming or erasing operation. The physical parameters including the electron trapping and positive-charge generation effects are used to describe the endurance and retention operations of an EEPROM device. Computer simulations based on this model have been performed to analyze the operations of an EEPROM device, including the effects of three different programming/erasing input voltage waveforms (pulse, exponential rise and triangular). A method for protecting an EEPROM device from overshooting or undershooting during programming or erasing operation is proposed. Therefore, the proposed model can be used as a computer-aided-design (CAD) tool for device design and an efficient simulation tool for describing the dynamic operation and reliability of an EEPROM device.