Impact of high-pressure deuterium oxide annealing on the blocking efficiency and interface quality of metal-alumina-nitride-oxide-silicon-type flash memory devices

We have investigated the effect of high-pressure deuterium oxide annealing (HPDOA) on metal-alumina-nitride-oxide-silicon-type flash memory device. HPDOA was performed in a high-pressure wet vapor ambient (N2:D2O=10atm:2atm) at 250°C for 5min. HPDOA devices achieved the improvements of blocking oxide quality as well as tunneling oxide/Si interface quality. The improvement of blocking oxide induced the lower charge loss through the blocking oxide, lower leakage current density, lower erase saturation level, and a larger memory window after the program/erase cycles. In addition, the presence of deuterium at the tunneling oxide/Si improved the interface quality by the formation of Si–D bonds.