A PEALD Tunnel Dielectric for Three-Dimensional Non-Volatile Charge-Trapping Technology

In this paper we compare a novel plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) oxide with more conventional HTO and ISSG oxides. We show that, remarkably for a deposited oxide, the oxide quality is, both in terms of field-to-breakdown and SILC generation, comparable to that of ISSG thermal oxide. Finally, we show that data retention of SONOS stack with PEALD is significantly better than for stacks with ISSG tunnel oxide. PEALD oxide is, therefore, a promising choice for 3D non-volatile flash technologies.