A New Multipulse Technique for Probing Electron Trap Energy Distribution in High- \kappa Materials for Flash Memory Application.

A new discharge-based multipulse technique has been developed in this paper, which overcomes the shortcomings of the existing techniques, such as the charge pumping, charge injection and sensing, and two-pulse C–V techniques. It captures the energy signature for electron traps across high- \kappa materials and can be a useful tool for material selection during technology development. Trap distributions in \HfO2, \Al2\O3, and HfAlO have been compared to identify the effects of material variation. It is observed that hafnium gives the shallow traps at about 0.45 eV above the silicon conduction band bottom (Si ECB), and the deep traps at 0.8 eV below the Si ECB are caused by aluminum. HfAlO combines the features in \HfO2 and \Al2\O3. A peak near the Si ECB has been observed in all the three materials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]