Electrical characteristics of Al₂O₂/TaAlO ₄/ SiO₂ multi-layer films by different tunnel oxide thicknesses and annealing treatment

In this study, Al₂O₃/TaAlO₄/SiO ₂ (A/TAlO/S) structures with tantalum aluminate charge trap layer were fabricated for Nand flash memory device. We evaluated the memory window and retention characteristic as the thickness of the tunnel oxide was varied among 3 nm, 4 nm, and 5 nm. All tunnel oxide thicknesses were measured by ellipsometer and TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope). The A/TAlO/S multi-layer film consisted of 5 nm tunnel oxide showed the best result of memory window of 1.57 V and retention characteristics. After annealing the 5 nm tunnel oxide A/TA10/S multi-layer film at 900°C. The memory window decreased to 1.32 V. Moreover, the TEM images confirmed that the thickness of multi-layer structure decreased 14.3% after annealing and the program conditions of A/TAlO/S multi-layer film decreased from 13 V to 11 V for 100 ms. Retention properties of both as-deposited and annealed films stably maintained until to 10⁴ cycles.