Hydrogen annealing of silicon gate-nitride-oxide-silicon nonvolatile memory devices

A hydrogen annealing study of silicon gate-nitride-oxide-silicon (SNOS) nonvolatile memory devices showed that the important parameter in determining the optimum hydrogen annealing temperature for maximum charge retention is the previous thermal history of the memory devices. If a memory device’s charge retention is not degraded by high-temperature processing, then the hydrogen anneal should be at the silicon nitride deposition temperature. If a device is degraded by high-temperature processing, then the hydrogen anneal should be at the degradation temperature.