Silicon Non-Volatile Memories: Paths of Innovation

Preface vii

Chapter 1. Introduction 1

Chapter 2. Semiconductor Industry Overview 7

2.1. The cyclical semiconductor market 7

2.2. The leading IC companies 12

2.3. The world IC market distribution 17

2.4. Semiconductor sales by IC devices 19

2.5. The semiconductor memory market 22

2.6. The impressive price decline of IC circuits 26

2.7. Moore’s Law, the ITRS and their economic impacts 33

2.8. Exponential growth of manufacturing and R&D costs 46

2.9. The structural evolution of the semiconductor industry 56

2.10. Consolidation of the semiconductor memory sector 64

2.11. Conclusions 70

2.12. References 73

Chapter 3. Research on Advanced Charge Storage Memories 77

3.1. Key features of Flash technology 78

3.2. Flash technology scaling 87

3.3. Innovative paths in silicon NVM technologies 96

3.4. Research on advanced charge storage memories 97

3.4.1. Silicon nanocrystal memories 97

3.4.2. Silicon nanocrystal memories with high-k IPDs 112

3.4.3. Hybrid silicon nanocrystal/SiN memories with high-k IPDs 117

3.4.4. Silicon nanocrystal double layer memories with high-k IPDs 119

3.4.5. Metal nano-dots coupled with organic templates 121

3.4.6. High-k IPD-based memories 127

3.4.7. High-k/metal gate stacks for “TANOS” memories 136

3.4.8. FinFlash devices 139

3.4.9. Molecular charge-based memories 151

3.4.10. Effects of the few electron phenomena 159

3.5. Conclusions 163

3.6. References 164

Chapter 4. Future Paths of Innovation 171

4.1. 3D integration of charge-storage memories 172

4.2. Alternative technologies 185

4.2.1. Ferro RAMs 187

4.2.2. Magnetic RAMs 187

4.2.3. Phase-change RAMs 188

4.2.4. Conductive bridging RAMs 199

4.2.5. Oxide resistive RAMs 202

4.2.6. New crossbar architectures 206

4.3. Conclusion 215

4.4. References 216

Chapter 5. Conclusions 223

5.1. References 232

Index 233