10 V Write/Erase, EAROM cells with directly nitrided silicon nitride films as first insulating layers

Abstract

Writing and erasing voltages of an electrically alterable nonvolatile memory (EAROM) have been decreased to 10 volts by employing a silicon nitride film grown by directly thermal nitridation of a silicon substrate as the first insulating layer of a stacked-gate structure. Memory retention, writing and erasing repetition, continuous reading-out and programing time have been excellently improved when these are compared with conventional erasable programable ROMs.