Abstract
This work demonstrates a dual-pi-gate TaN–Al2O3–Si3N4–SiO2–silicon (TANOS) flash memory with nanowires (NWs) channel. Simulation under modulated Fowler–Nordheim (MFN) tunneling indicates that the source-side tunneling oxide of the dual-gate (DG) TANOS NVM has an electric field larger than 6 MV/cm. A novel 2-bit operation of DG TANOS NVM can thus be performed by MFN programming and band-to-band tunneling-induced hot–hole injection (BTBTHHI) erasing. Additionally, the DG TANOS memory shows better program/erase characteristics and clearer distinguishability than a single-gate (SG) device under 2-bit operation. In reliability results, the DG TANOS memory shows better retention and endurance than the SG device.